Do Or Die
by UnderdogAngel
Summary: Five boys: Prankster, Sarcasm, Good Heart, Follower, & Misjudged. Separate houses, pranks, hurtful words, and secrets won't stop two girls' friendships. Two boys: a wolf & a snake. Two girls who will dare to enter their worlds. This is their story.
1. PreChapter 1,  Third Year

**Hey there, readers&reviewers! Eep, a new story! And I'm really excited about this one-especially since it's being co-written by amazingly talented friend BondSlave!  
>BondSlave and I saw <em>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2<em> over the weekend, and we just got so inspired that we had to write. Here is the product of that! ^.^ We intend this to be a rather long story, as we've got lots of ideas for it, and we hope you enjoy it. x)**

**This story takes place during the Marauders Era of Hogwarts. (i.e., When James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Severus Snap, Lily Evans, etc. all attended school at Hogwarts.) The first two chapters are sort of...pre-chapters to get you introduced to the characters. Then the story REALLY starts. This first one's kind of short, but the second one is MUCH longer.**

**Anywhoo, BondSlave and I thank you for reading, and would love to hear what you think of it! Happy reading!**

**-Pre-I. Third Year-  
><strong>_**In which you meet the girls.**_

Alisha Spinners, Slytherin third-year, walked calmly down the stone corridors, her heeled shoes tapping quite satisfactorily against the gray and worn stone. Students rushed around her as they hurried off to their classes, the fear of detention and extracted house points causing their scuttling onward.

Alisha was an average girl—not overly pretty but not completely unattractive. She had shoulder lengthed wavy hair that was far too thick and seemed to have a mind of its own. No one was exactly sure what her natural hair color was, seeing as it changed from blonde to black and anything inbetween on a regular basis. Her skin was oddly pale and her fingernails were always painted—usually some shade of blue or black. She wore little make up save for a pale pink eyeshadow that caused her green hazel eyes to pop, accented by her long eyelashes, which were usually coated in mascara.

Alisha walked calmly into the potions class room where the students talked and laughed and were grouped together. She crossed to a back table that would seat four or five people and took a seat. She set her black and white bag on the table and began pulling out her potion books and ingredients, not forgetting her parchment, ink and quill.

Though not being an overly sociable individual, she rather enjoyed working in groups while making potions. Mostly due to the fact that she was utterly and hopelessly poor at brewing them. Either she would mix up ingredients or she would simply not be able to do all of the work in time. But when in a group, even when the people around here were rather...slow, she was able to figure things out faster by watching them. This usually got her a passing grade in the class.

**;;;;;**

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" said a breathless Kelsey Edwards, Ravenclaw third-year, as she pushed her way through the masses of students hurrying to get to their own classes. She did her best to be polite as she made her way towards the potions classroom, but she couldn't risk being late. She was always on time for her classes, but often only getting there a minute or two before the professor. She usually didn't leave the library or the common room or wherever she'd been until the last possible moment. Which usually caused her to rush to her classes to keep her perfect attendance.

Kelsey often described herself as "nothing special," just herself. She was rather short, just over five feet tall. Her thick, straight, short brown hair hit just at her chin, and was streaked throughout with sun-colored highlights. A fringe of bangs swept to the right across her forehead. She had one streak on the right side of her hair, though, that was different from the rest of her hair. It had been brown just like the rest of her hair when she'd been born, but now it changed color more times than she could count—changed with her mood. She found it most inconvenient, as she didn't like the entire school knowing how she was feeling or what she was thinking. She'd tried dying it and hiding it, but the streak always came back, brighter and bolder than before, as if it were mocking her.

Her skin was pale, as she often stayed inside reading or writing rather than going outside, and she would often paint her nails various colors, as if trying to match the streak in her hair. She never left the common room without a little bit of makeup, usually some black eyeliner, light wine-colored eyeshadow, and dark mascara around her bright blue-green eyes.

Kelsey stumbled into the potions classroom, almost tripping and falling over an uneven part of the floor—not an unusual occurrence. A few students looked up at her curiously. She blushed a little, her streak turned from black to a tan-brown, and she cleared her throat, straightened her robe, and shuffled off to go find a seat before the professor showed up. She sheepishly took a seat beside her friend, Alisha Spinner, and started unpacking her notebook, quill, and ink.

Alisha looked at Kelsey for a moment as she did this. "Let me guess," she said, "you were in the library reading and lost track of time again?"

Kelsey sighed. "You can't really blame me for discovering a good book, now can you?"

Alisha laughed softly. "No, I suppose not."

**;;;;;**

Alisha and Kelsey had known each other before attending Hogwarts and, despite having been sorted into seperate houses, they didn't let that fact keep them from upholding their friendship. They didn't think that the segregation was healthy or at all wise. So even despite sometimes getting looked down upon, they held their heads high and continued building their friendship.

Alisha glanced up from her pile of stuff. The class had filled up quickly and there was little room at any of the tables. One or two seats rested unoccupied here or there, but they were not at all welcoming. She stood up and leaned over the corner of the table gently tugging on the robe sleeve of a black haired boy. "Severus you can sit here," she stated as she sat back down.

The boy glanced at her and nodded, mumbling a thank you (that didn't sound all that thankful) before taking a seat opposite the two girls.

Alisha just nodded, seemingly not bothered by the ungrateful tone in the other's voice. She was no doubt used to it due to the fact that she was a Slytherin and was often forced to be around rather rude and rash people.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey glanced up slightly as Severus took a seat at the table. He was a Slytherin like Alisha, so she didn't know him quite as well as she did. She knew him to be rather shy and quiet, but not much beyond that. She did not disapprove of him sitting at the table, and tried to give him a small smile of welcome, but he just averted his eyes down to his notebook.

While Kelsey did not disapprove of Severus' presence at their table, there was one boy in particular whose precense she very much disapproved of.

She started in surprise when she felt a hand tugging on her hair—on her streak, to be more specific. She turned her head slightly to see who it was, and found it to be none other than James Potter, a cocky Gryffindor in her year.

James grinned at her annoyed expression. "Heeey, Edwards," he greeted.

She rolled her eyes and turned away. "Don't you have innocent first-years to torment?" she asked dryly.

"Nah, saving that for the weekend," he replied. He dropped his bag on the floor next to the chair next to her, and she stared at him as he sat down. Was he really stooping so low as to sit with them?

Kelsey's streak started to turn black again as she tried to focus on going over the notes she'd taken the day before.

James poked her in the shoulder. "So what's black mean?"

"It's really none of your concern," she replied, not looking at him. Now her streak had tints of red in it.

"What about red?"

"If she's not smiling, run for your life," Alisha advised.

James chuckled. "What could a little Ravenclaw do to me?"

"You'd be surprised," Alisha said.

**;;;;;**

Severus, who hadn't even bothered looking up from his notes, muttered something under his breath. Alisha, who was closer to him, snickered at his comment. The little exchange did not go unnoticed, however, and James turned his sights on them.

"What are the two of you talking about over there?" he asked, dull hazel-brown eyes narrowing on the two Slytherins.

Neither replied.

He sneered and loudly unloaded his book bag onto the table. "Are you flirting with your girlfriend Snivvely?"

Alisha tensed automatically, eyeing Severus as his knuckles tightened on his notebook. Neither wanted to get prevoked into a fight—verbal or not—with James Potter. It always led to trouble.

The spiky-haired brunette set his sights on Alisha, eyeing her up and down before turning his attention back to Severus and putting his wicked tongue back to work. "Seems even you can't do better," he said with a snicker.

Alisha did little more than blush at the insult, but it looked as though Severus was ready to draw his wand and curse James into next Friday. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

A notebook came out of nowhere and smacked James upside the head with conciderable force. The Quidditch player yelped and jumped, obviously surprised by the attack. He rubbed at the back of his head and twisted in his seat to see who had attacked him.

"To think you would stoop so low to insult a girl James." Standing behind James with a look of total and utter disapproval, stuffing his notebook back in his bag, was Remus Lupin. He was a tall, thin figure with peachy skin, but an overall unhealthy looking complexion; light brown hair; and blue eyes. He wore a pair of ratty old jeans that were at least two sizes too big for him and a green sweater with a whole near the bottom. His patched robes hung loosely around his slim frame.

James scoffed in disbelief before pointing towards Alisha, who once again tensed under the scrutiny. "She's a Slytherin."

"So what? That doesn't give you the right to insult her!" Kelsey snapped at him, the streak in her hair had turned a deep shade of red. It was obvious from the expression her face that she was not at all pleased.

Remus nodded at her. "Too right. James, that was low even for you. And if you do not wish me to tell Professor Slughorn that you are already causing trouble in class, I would choose seating elsewhere."

James' eyes narrowed, but Remus seemed undaunted. He nodded his head at the table on the other side of the room where Sirius was just taking his seat. "Go and sit with Sirius, James." He said before narrowing his own eyes. "Or I might just let slip some other unpleasentries that could get you detention for a month."

James scowled and grabbed all of his stuff, mumbling under his breath as he left the table. It would seem sometimes being friends with someone like Remus Lupin had its downfalls.

**;;;;;**

The red in Kelsey's hair started to fade as James walked away, replaced by a pale teal color. She was grateful that Remus had stepped in. She might have been a small girl, but, when she got worked up, she was ready to take people out, no matter their size or strength. _Especially_ when they insulted her friends.

She wanted to thank Remus for what he'd done and said, but couldn't seem to change her thoughts into spoken words. Instead of a more proper thank you, what came out of her mouth was a somewhat nervous, "Thanks, Remus."

Remus nodded, giving her a small smile. "Don't worry about it. James can get a little _too_ full of himself sometimes."

"Good thing he's got someone to rein him in," Alisha said, rolling her eyes a little.

"That's what I'm here for." He glanced around the room, seeing that all the seats were nearly filled. He turned to look back at Kelsey. "Is it alright if I sit here?" he asked, pointing at the seat James had been sitting in moments ago—the seat next to her.

Kelsey blinked at him for a moment, her streak turning an amber color. "Here?" she squeaked.

He laughed softly. "There really isn't anywhere else to sit, so..."

"Oh, right, uh," Kelsey stuttered.

Alisha shook her head. "Sure, Remus. And don't mind Kelsey. She just has some trouble expressing herself sometimes."

"I guess that's why you've got that streak in your hair, huh?" Remus asked, smiling.

The amber in Kelsey's hair grew darker, until it was almost gold, and she looked away, blushing. "Uh, yeah, I guess..."

**;;;;;**

Severus, who had been watching the whole exchange between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, cocked a black brow before averting his dark gaze to his notes just as the professor walked in.

"Good morning class," the pudgy man said as he waddled up to the front of the class. All chatter died down and everyone went to their seats.

Once Professor Slughorn had actually gotten all of his things out, he began the class. He waved his wand at the blackboard, and the piece of chalk rose up and began writing out instuctions. "Alright students, we will be brewing a 'hair-raising' potion today. Please pull out your potion book and turn to page 254. Now be sure to read the passage in the book and pay attention to the instructions on the blackboard."

And the class commenced. Alisha pored over the text as Slughorn levitated all of the cauldrons onto the Bunsen burners. She re-read the passages several times before bookmarking her place and grabbing all of the ingredients she would need. Remus was already crushing something into powder and had managed to get the water in his cauldron to a boil.

After the first few minutes of workingm Alisha was already reaching her wit's end. She'd done everything she was supposed to have done at this point in time, and her potion was refusing to simmer. She'd turned down her Bunsen burner, but the fluid, which had turned an odd shade of orange, had stilled completely. She turned it back up, but then it would start to burn. She slid her fingers through her hair for what felt like the hundreth time. What was she missing? She picked up her book and flipped to the page and began re-reading the passage.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey, her streak now a pale orange color, carefully measured out her ingredients, making sure not to mix in too much or too little of any one ingredient. In potions class, she tended to follow the text book to the letter, so as to avoid any explosions or injuries or illness or... She was rather paranoid when it came to potions, actually.

She peered into her boiling cauldron, then looked back over the passage in her book. Relatively sure that she'd followed the book properly so far, she glanced around to see how the others were doing.

"Mr. Potter, why did you put those ingredients in?" Professor Slughorn asked James. "They aren't even in this potion!" Kelsey rolled her eyes. Typical James.

Severus and Remus seemed to be doing alright on their potions as well, but, from the way Alisha was running her hand through her hair, she wasn't. There was an odd sort of smell coming from her cauldron, like something was burning, and she looked down at her book, looking utterly perplexed.

Kelsey was about to ask what was wrong, when Severus hesitantly tapped Alisha on the shoulder. Alisha looked at him curiously. He murmured something to her, and all Kelsey could catch was, "rat tail." That must've been important, because Alisha nodded and said, "Thanks!" before jumping up to go get something from the ingredient cupboard.

Interesting. It seemed Severus was quite the potions aficionado. Kelsey turned back to her potion, making sure it wasn't burning. It started to turn a green color, and her streak in turn turned a blue color.

"Going well?" Remus asked her.

"Well, it's turning green," she said after a moment. "I suppose that's a good sign."

He looked into his own cauldron. "Would you look at that... Mine is too." He smiled at her. "Looks like we're onto something here."

She smiled back shyly, her streak turning a red-brown. "Yeah, maybe."

Professor Slughorn finally made his way around to their table, looking into their cauldrons and taking whiffs of the fumes rising from them. He nodded, smiling. "Excellent. Well-done, all of you." And he went on to inspect the next table.

"Phew," Alisha said, relieved. She smiled at Severus and thanked him again.

He looked away from her, shaking his head and writing something down in his text book. Kelsey couldn't tell if he was embarrassed, or if he just truly didn't feel like talking. Severus was definitely hard to read.

Slughorn returned to his place at the front of the class and smiled. "Well, it seems that this table here—" He gestured to Alisha, Kelsey, Severus, and Remus' table. "—has produced the best batch of the potion." He looked at the table of students. "Now one of you will have to be the unlucky test subject to try the potion."

The four students looked at each other, blinking for a few moments. It seemed none of them were going to volunteer.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Alisha suggested.

They each put a fist towards the middle of the table, one or two indifferent as to the outcome, and the rest dreading being on the losing end of this battle.

Unfortunately, Severus was on the losing end of the game.

Alisha sighed and hung her head slightly. "I'll do it," she said.

Kelsey wasn't surprised, but Remus and Severus were. "Why?" Severus asked. "I lost."

Alisha wanted to say something to the effect of, _But you look so miserable_. But she held her tongue. "No reason," she said. "I've just...always wanted to try the hair-raising potion."

"But I lost," Severus insisted.

"Why don't you both test it," Slughorn suggested, stepping over to the table.

Alisha and Severus looked at each other for a moment, then sighed. "Alright, professor," Alisha said.

**;;;;;**

Alisha gathered up the potions into two flasks since they would be only testing their potions. They walked up to the front of the class and, with some swift hand work, she handed Severus the flask containing her potion. She was 40% sure that it wouldn't work properly and 60% sure it wouldn't poison him. They both uncorked their flasks and took a swig, both making a rather disgusted face at the rancid flavor and thick goop sliding down their throats.

A few moments passed without anything happening and then Alisha let out a slight squeak as all of the hair on her body stood on end, her long hair sticking straight up as though she were upside down. She tilted her head, her hair remaining upright. "This is sooooo weird," she said in a slightly squeakier higher-pitched voice—a voice she called her chibi voice.

Severus stood there and looked at her blankly. Nothing had happened to him. The potion had been completely and utterly useless, only serving to upset his stomach.

"You gave me your potion?" he asked dully.

Alisha blushed and ran a hand along her neck. "Oh...oops I must have gotten them mixed-up."

"Oh, well..." the Professor stuttered out, looking between the two thirteen-year-olds. "Ah well, 10 points to Slytherin for effort, Severus your potion gets an A, overall class grade, O. Alisha...you get a D on your potion, overall class grade, A." He said before shooing them away.

Once back on the bench Alisha's hair had calmed down although she still felt a little "light"-headed. She smiled at Remus, who gave her a small smile. Snape didn't even bother paying attention to the teacher, merely picking up his potions book and quill and scribbling in it. Alisha was inwardly agast to see a perfectly good book ruined, but she wasn't going to say anything.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey wasn't a bit surprised that Alisha's potion hadn't worked. ...You might say that potions wasn't one of her best subjects. But she was slightly surprised that she'd given _her_ potion to Severus instead of drinking her own. She thought about that for a few moments.

Probably the only other thing she knew about Severus was that he was often a target of cruel pranks and bullying—usually from James & Co. Perhaps Alisha had switched the potions to spare Severus any further humiliation? Where Alisha was concerned, the theory seemed quite possible.

"Well," Remus said, "that was quite a _hair-raising_ sight." He grinned.

Kelsey smiled a little and shook her head, her streak turning a light green. "Oh, ha, ha," she said dryly. "You're so funny, Remus."

"Why thank you, Kelsey," he said, still grinning.

**;;;;;**

Once potions class ended the students would have thirty minutes before their next class. Alisha spent an awful long time gathering up her things and putting them in her bag. But once she had, she walked out into the hall and plastered her back to the wall.

"Alisha? We have Transfiguration next. You coming?" a girl asked curiously.

Alisha nodded and told her she'd catch up, encouraging the other girl to go on without her and to save her a seat.

After a few moments, Severus walked out of the class room, and Alisha followed him up the stairs.

"Are you following me?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, no, we're just going the same way," she stated as they entered the large entrance hall. Alisha glanced over at the four large hourglasses that showed each house's point accumulation. "Slytherin is doing really good this year," she said with a bright smile. "We might even win the House Cup."

Snape paused and looked at her. "Why do you insist on doing..." He looked at her harder. "...all of this stuff you do?"

She blinked, a little dumbfounded. She floundered around for an answer momentarily before smiling a small smile. "Because we have something in common," she stated simply, and then walked off to attend Tranfiguration.


	2. PreChapter 2, Worst Prank

**AH REVIEWS :D Thank you SO MUCH, everyone who is reading and reviewing! BondSlave and I are both SO GLAD that you're liking the story so far! Thank you, thank you!**

**Now, onto the second and last pre-chapter. This one is VERY LONG, and I apologize in advance, heh. There was a just a lot to get through. After this chapter, the **_**real**_** story will start (with **_**real**_** chapters xD). Until then, happy reading!**

**-Pre-II. Worst Prank-**_**  
>In which the girls go hunting.<strong>_

When the morning post arrived with care packages from home, it usually caused a great deal of excitement—both good and bad. Alisha, who had just entered the Great Hall, her hair still damp from her morning shower, paused on her way to her table, looking up at the horde of fowl. She lifted her arm and a white and brown speckled barn owl fluttered down with a soft hooting-screeching sound as it landed on her arm.

"Good morning, Albert," she said with a smile as she took the letter that was tied around his foot before pulling a treat from her pocket. "Good boy," she said before jerking her arm up and sending the bird off to the Owlery.

Alisha did not often receive mail, but when she did, it was always a pleasant surprise. She unfolded the letter from her parents and began reading. She had only gotten halfway through the letter when a screech from the table to her right reached her and caused her to look over.

Kelsey was slumped over the table, letter in hand, making groaning sounds. Her fellow Ravenclaws were looking at her with various expressions.

Alisha approached the end of the table, her own letter still in hand. "Kelsey?"

"Why, why, why, why, wwwhhhhyyyy?"

"What's wrong?" Alisha asked curiously as she gazed down at the seemingly flustered girl. She folded her letter and stuffed it in her robes before leaning her hands on the tables edge, leaning over slightly. "Kelsey?"

A hand released the crinkled letter, a painted nail pointing to the care package. Alisha let her eyes follow and land on the care package. She dragged it closer and began looking through it.

"M&Ms, Skittle, Goldfish..." With each new item, she pulled it out of the box and set it aside. "...cookies, gummy worms, Ritz, Cheez-its... NYEG." She paled and flushed, grabbing the other items and shoving them back in the box before slamming the flaps closed. A silence spread between the two girls, who both looked equally mortified.

"W-w-why would she do that? !"

Kelsey sat up and flailed her arms wildly. "I don't know! I mean, she never does that...ever. Maybe she finally found that note I left her back before the beginning of the year and just now decided to get them for me," she said in a miserable voice.

"Lovely. But did they have to have Disney characters on them?"

Both girls flopsweated and quickly parted ways. They'd only draw attention to themselves otherwise.

**;;;;;**

James and Sirius looked over at the Ravenclaw table, eyeing the flustered girls curiously.

"Wonder what Edwards got in her care package," James said with a smirk.

"Oh, leave it, James," Remus said, not looking up from that day's edition of the _Daily Prophet_. "It's none of your business, really."

"Remus, are you not seeing this?" James asked. "Look at 'er! Her streak's nearly gold. That's gotta mean something."

"Something that we will probably never find out," Remus replied.

James looked at his friend. "So you're really not wondering what's going on over there?"

"Not at all," Remus said, no hesitation in his answer.

James sighed heavily. "Why d'you always gotta the killjoy, Remus?"

Remus made no reply, but he did glance up, though, when Alisha walked away from the Ravenclaw table and Kelsey quickly gathered up her things and headed out of the Great Hall.

"Whatever it is," Sirius said, "must've been pretty bad."

Alisha was walking by their table, and James called, "Oy, Spinner!"

Alisha was tempted to just keep walking, but decided to see just what it was James was calling her over about. "What do you want?" she asked.

He nodded over his shoulder to Kelsey, who was now walking through the doors and out into the hallway. "What's Edwards on about?"

Alisha rolled her eyes. "If I didn't know you better, James, I might say you actually care about her feelings." She turned to walk away. "It's her business and none of yours. You all must know how parents love to embarrass their children. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"

James was still dying to know what could possibly have sent the Ravenclaw girl into such a fit, but didn't really feel feel it was worth submitting himself to the Slytherin girl's wrath. He also didn't want Remus to chuck another notebook at his head. But that all didn't stop him from being curious.

Meanwhile, Kelsey had hurried from the Great Hall and to the Ravenclaw common room. She ran to her bed and stuffed the care package under the bed next to her trunk. She thought to herself that, in the future, she would advise her mother not to send her undergarments of any sort. Socks and such were alright, but nothing else. She pondered how to word the letter properly, so as not to hurt her mother's feelings (for she was the source of Kelsey's sometimes quite sensitive nature), as she collected the things she would need for the day's classes.

With the package safely tucked away, out of sight of mocking and inquiring eyes, the gold in her hair turned to pale teal as she relaxed a little. She left the common room and started back across the castle, headed to class. While she walked, she flipped through a large text she'd picked up from the library—an encyclopedia of sorts on magical creatures. Though a very clumsy girl, Kelsey often read as she walked and had no trouble weaving around people and not running into walls or doors. That day, though, maybe her earlier flustered state had impaired her walking and reading abilities.

She bumped into someone, her book falling from her hands, as well as the other two books she'd been carrying under her arm. She quickly turned to the person she'd run into. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry—" She blinked. "Remus," she said, slightly surprised.

He looked at her, slight concern in his eyes. "Are you alright?"

Her streak started to turn a pale amber as she knelt down to collect her books. "Oh, I-I'm fine. I'm so sorry. I was reading, and—"

He'd stooped down to help, reading off the titles of the books. "_Hogwarts, A History_... _Introduction to Herbology_..." He laughed softly. "You certainly have a diverse taste in reading, Kelsey."

She blushed a little, the amber growing slightly darker as he handed her the books. "Yeah, I, uh..."

Remus picked up the third book, his eyes lingering on it for a few moments. "Magical creatures," he said curiously. He opened it, flipping to the bookmark Kelsey had put in it earlier. "Werewolves, huh." His tone didn't exactly make it into a question.

Kelsey looked at him, tilting her head slightly as her streak turned a pale pink. "Remus? Are you alright?"

He shook his head and handed her the book. "I'm fine. It's nothing, really."

They stood. "Thank you," Kelsey said. "And, uh, sorry again...for bumping into you." "It's no problem," he said. He gave her a smile and turned to go. "See you around."

She stood silent for a moment, then remembered that she was supposed to reply. "Oh, right. See you, Remus!" She quickly turned and started back toward her classroom. She thought to herself that Remus had acted a bit strange when he'd seen the magical creatures book, but she couldn't even begin to think of why he would've acted that way. Maybe he just didn't like magical creatures, for whatever reason.

Whatever the case, Kelsey wondered about it for some time, but didn't say anything about the encounter to anyone.

**;;;;;**

Classes dragged on for what felt like ages and ages. Teachers talked about things she didn't understand, and every time she would check the time, it seemed to be going backwards, which wouldn't have really been a surprise since she was attending a magical school. But whatever the cause, magical or otherwise, Alisha simply couldn't pay attention or retain anything. She'd given up on taking notes and was merely doodling in her notebook. Something had been bothering her since earlier that day, and she couldn't shake the sense of unease.

Her hazel eyes wandered over to the Slytherin boy sitting a few rows ahead of her and to the right. Severus was hunched low over his notebook taking notes, his black hair framing his face. She could just make out his dark eyes glued to the page in concentration. She admired Severus for being such a good student. He always took perfect notes and still managed to cram a ton of information onto a single page in that tiny curvy writing of his. She leaned her chin on her head as she stared at the other teen.

To anyone else, it would appear to be a love-struck girl staring at her unknowing crush, but that wasn't it. Alisha didn't feel that way about Severus. She was just his friend, or she _tried_ to be his friend. No, when she looked at him, she would get that uneasy feeling again. Something was off and she simply couldn't put her finger on it. Her brows furrowed and her eyes slid to the other side of the classroom where Sirius Black was screwing around with his parchment, turning a piece of it into different objects. Her green-hazel eyes narrowed on him. If looks could kill. She had a feeling that him and the other Marauders were up to something but she just didn't know what. She looked back towards Severus and couldn't help but think that it did not bode well for the slender figure.

;;

After classes, the students filed out to go back to their dorms or to the Great Hall to get a snack, while others filed out onto the grounds to enjoy the beginning of their weekend.

Alisha, on the other hand, headed to the library. She had a book she needed to return and knew that if she didn't do it soon, she would totally forget.

Once at the library, she went in search of the section she'd taken the book from. She walked along the aisles of books and shelves. She smiled and inhaled. She loved the smell of books. It reminded her of home.

"Ah-hah," she said with a smile as she found the shelf and stuffed the book back into its place. She was about to hum a little "victory" theme to herself when she heard voices from the other side of the bookshelf.

"Peter, Peter."

She blinked and paused, growing quiet. She knew that voice. She scooted closer to the shelf and peeked through to see Sirius and Peter on the other side.

"What are you worrying about? It will be funny!"

The shorter, chubbier, mousy boy shifted uncomfortably. He seemed uneasy. "I don't know," he muttered quietly.

"Oh, don't be such a prat. You know it will be funny. Scare the little bugger—maybe get him to wet himself."

Alisha's eyes narrowed. Great, they were going to start harassing some poor fool.

"But what if Remus hurts him?"

Alisha blinked, a little surprised. Wait, Remus was involved in this, was he? _I always thought better of you Remus!_ she thought to herself, but was distracted by Sirius.

"He won't! The twat will get so scared, he'll run away screaming. No harm no foul," Sirius said, patting the other boy on the head before walking off. "All I need you to do is drop a hint."

"W-what? !"

And the two boys were gone.

Alisha stepped away from the shelf and frowned before snarling under her breath and walking towards the exit. She couldn't believe those boys. They were so immature and so stupid. They were always picking on someone. It was like they all thought they were better than everyone else. She hated people like that.

;;

Alisha jumped the steps from the bridge and walked out onto the grounds. "Damn it, Remus, I thought you were different!" she snapped to no one as she made her way to a shaded tree and flopped down on the grass. She pulled a book from her bag and began reading it angrily.

**;;;;;**

Classes were done for the day, and Kelsey thought she'd take a few books and go outside to read or work on some homework. It was clear day—just one of those days when even hermits felt like coming out of their caves to take in some sun. She smiled to herself as she walked down the corridor, thinking of all the wonderful reading she'd be able to do, when she heard a voice coming from around the corner.

"What are you saying?"

Severus?

"Y-You know that old tree out there," stuttered another familiar voice—that of Peter Pettigrew. Kelsey had often seen him running about with James & Co. (a.k.a. the Marauders), but didn't think too much of him.

"You mean the Whomping Willow?" Severus asked.

"Y-Yes," replied Peter.

"Well, what about it?" Severus definitely sounded curious.

"It's just... There's a knot near the bottom. Some say that, if you poke it, the tree will open up and take you somewhere."

"That sounds preposterous," Severus snapped.

"W-Well... It _is_ just a rumor, after all..."

Severus was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Yes...a rumor..." She heard his footsteps fade down the corridor.

Then another set of footsteps ran up. "Brilliant, mate, brilliant!" Now it seemed Sirius was in on this as well! "You did wonderfully."

Peter made a concerned, worried groan. "I-I still don't know about this, Sirius..."

"Look, I told you before, didn't I? I bet you anything he'll just get scared out of his skin, then run for his life."

"I still think Remus could hurt him—"

"He won't," Sirius cut in. "Come on, let's go find James and tell him the good news."

Kelsey's heart dropped into her stomach as the pair walked away. She peeked around the corner at them, her streak quickly turning a bright blue. Then it turned grey, then red, and back to blue again. She turned and ran out the nearest door, where she started searching the grounds for Alisha. She hoped that she would have an answer to the many questions swirling through her mind.

What were they planning to do to Severus? What did it have to do with the Whomping Willow? ...And what did Remus have to do with it?

She finally found Alisha reading under a tree, a tight, angry expression on her face. Kelsey collapsed on the grass next to her friend, trying to catch her breath.

"What's wrong?" Alisha asked, her anger momentarily replaced by concern. She looked at her friend for a moment. "And what's going on with your streak? It keeps flashing different colors."

"I know," Kelsey breathed. "Listen..." She gasped in a breath. "...I just heard...Peter talking to Severus..."

The anger returned to Alisha's face. "What did he say?"

"He was telling him something about the Whomping Willow...and a knot that you poke near the bottom... Then Sirius came up and—"

"Sirius? !" Alisha slammed her book shut. "I knew it! I heard him and Peter talking in the library earlier, but I had no idea who they were going to victimize."

"But that's not all," Kelsey continued. "Peter said something about Remus, and that he was afraid he would hurt Severus."

"Huh..." Alisha thought for a moment. "He said something similar in the library..." She scooped up her things and stood. "Come on."

"Where're we going?" Kelsey asked, pushing herself to her feet and following her friend.

"Hunting," Alisha replied. "Maybe we'll get lucky and bag some weasels."

**;;;;;**

Alisha entered the courtyard where Peter was sitting and obviously waiting for someone. Her eyes narrowed a moment before she paused and looked at Kelsey. She put up her hand, signaling that the other girl remain there for a moment. She than turned back and schooled her expression before walking calmly forward. Her heeled shoes tapped loudly against the stones, and, due to the intensity, it was obvious she was out of sorts. She paused and cleared her throat, looking down at the shorter teen. "Excuse me...Peter, was it?"

"Eh, yes?" He looked obviously uncomfortable under the Slytherin girl's narrowed gaze.

"I would like to have a word with you," she stated calmly.

He cleared his throat and glanced around. It seemed he didn't know exactly what to do without the others. "I d-don't think I should be t-talking to a Slytherin."

Alisha's eyes narrowed and she grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt.

He squeaked.

"You will either come with me or I will jinx you and drag your pudgy arse to a secret place where no one will hear you scream."

"O-o-o-okay," the blonde boy squeaked, obviously terrified.

Alisha, completely amused by the fact she could be so intimidating, turned and nodded to Kelsey, who jogged over. "Where are we going now?"

Alisha wrapped an arm around the boys shoulders and smiled at her friend. "Let's find an empty class room." She squeezed the boys shoulders and looked down at him. "I think we could come up with a few questions for our little friend here."

**;;;;;**

Kelsey poked her head into the charms classroom. All was silent. A good thing, too. The last three classrooms had still been occupied by teachers and a few students studying here and there, and she'd already had to explain that she was just looking for someone too many times.

She waved Alisha over, who pulled Peter along with her and into the classroom. Kelsey took one last glance around the hallway, making sure no one had seen, then she closed the door and waved her wand over the lock, saying, "_Colloportus_," ensuring that no one would come in unannounced.

"Now then," Alisha said, turning her sights on Peter. "Just what was it that you and Sirius were talking about in the library?"

Peter stared at her with wide eyes. "I-I don't know wh-what you're t-talking about!" he insisted nervously.

Alisha narrowed her eyes, folding her arms over her chest. "Really? Because I think it had something to do with a prank on Severus. I seem to recall Sirius saying that he would get so scared he would...'wet himself,' I think was the phrase he used."

"I-I honestly d-don't know!"

Alisha looked at Kelsey, and they nodded at each other. Kelsey raised her wand and aimed it at Peter.

"Now, are you gonna keep telling us that you know nothing?" Alisha asked.

Peter swallowed and said nothing.

"Go, Kelsey," Alisha said.

"Gladly," Kelsey replied, her streak turning more and more red. "_Rictusempra!_" A red light burst from the tip of her wand and hit Peter, sending the boy into a laughing fit on the floor.

Alisha looked at her friend, her hands on her hips. "A tickling charm? Really?" "What, you want me to use the Cruciatus Curse?" Kelsey asked dryly. "We're interrogating him for information about fellow classmates, not getting him to cough up info on some mobsters or something."

"You read too much." She looked down at Peter. "You gonna talk now?"

"I, haha, don't know, haha, anything!" he laughed.

Alisha rolled her eyes and pulled out her own wand. "_Levicorpus_." She raised her wand, and Peter floated up into the air with it. She kept raising him higher and higher, until he was almost at the ceiling of the gigantic room. "TALK!" Alisha ordered.

"What are you guys planning?" Kelsey demanded. "And what does Remus have to do with it?"

"I'm going to drop you onto the hard, stone floor if you don't tell us what you know!" Alisha shouted.

"Alright! Alright!" Peter said, frantic. "I c-can't tell you everything, only because Remus doesn't know what has Sirius planned, a-and—"

"Don't give us excuses!" Alisha cut in.

"A-Alright!" Peter repeated. "Sirius thought it would get us a good laugh to s-send Severus to the Whomping Willow t-tonight, and he told me to d-drop a hint about the secret passageway that leads t-to the Shrieking Shack, and he said th-that nothing bad would happen—that Snape would just get sc-scared and run away!"

Alisha lowered him some, so he was more at eye-level with her. "What would he get scared by in there?"

"It's the Shrieking Shack," Peter said. "There's gotta be all k-kinds of scary s-stuff in there!"

"Hmm..." Alisha lowered her wand, and Peter fell to the ground with a yelp and a whimper. "The Shrieking Shack..."

Kelsey crouched down to look at Peter—but not out of concern. "What time?" she demanded, still wondering what Remus' part in all this was. She'd always thought that he was the one to stop Sirius and James from pulling this crap, and never took part in it.

"After dark," Peter whimpered. "He'd h-have to sneak out t-to get there."

Kelsey looked at the sun outside. Sunset was a little less than an hour away.

"Look, I'm s-supposed to be outside right now, w-waiting for Sirius and James, and I-I—"

"Then go." Alisha reached down and grabbed his shirtfront in her fist. "But you speak a word of what just happened here to anyone, and tickling and levitating charms will be the least of your worries." She flung him toward the door. "Now get out of here."

Kelsey lifted the charm from the door as Peter scrambled toward the door and ran out of the room.

Alisha and Kelsey calmly walked out into the hallway, looking after the panicky little rat scurrying away from them.

"So what do you think?" Kelsey asked.

Alisha folded her arms for a moment. "If we confront Sirius now, we might not be able to do anything. Severus has already been given the hint. And I doubt Severus would listen to us, since he'd be more concerned about how we know what's going on..."

"But Peter didn't say anything about Remus," Kelsey said. "Why was he afraid that he might hurt Severus?"

"Remember what he said, though? He said that he could tell us everything because Remus doesn't know what's going on," Alisha said.

"How is that even possible? That he can be involved and might even hurt Severus, but not be aware?"

"It's perplexing, I'll give them that..." She put her hands on her hips. "The way I see it, we're going to have to sneak out and see just what's in the Shrieking Shack. Possibly before Severus can get there, or before Sirius or James can stop us."

"We?" Kelsey stared at Alisha.

"You already know you're coming," she said, grabbing Kelsey's arm and pulling her along down the corridor. "We'll have to bring our wands, of course. Do charms work on ghosts?"

"Last I checked, no," Kelsey said, her streak turning a very dark grey, and then black. "I have a feeling that this isn't going to end well..."

"Oh, come on," Alisha said. "Most of the stuff about the Shrieking Shack is just bollocks. We'll probably just find some lame ghost that Sirius conjured up to give Severus a spook, and all will be well after I kick Sirius' arse."

Kelsey bit her lip nervously. "If you say so..."

"I do. Now let's go. The sun's going down soon, and it's gonna be a full moon tonight."

"So?" Kelsey asked.

"It'll be lighter out," Alisha said, "which means it'll be harder to sneak out. If only we had an invisibility cloak...!"

Kelsey shook her head. "If my mum ever finds one, I'll have her send it to us."

"One with Disney characters on it?"

"Naturally. What could be more inconspicuous?"

"...We're be better off not having it."

"You're right."

**;;;;;**

Remus whimpered and tugged at his hair, his nails digging into his scalp. He was waiting for dusk and for the nurse to escort him to the passage beneath the Whomping Willow. He gasped and leaned against the nearest bed railing.

"You alright, boy?" the nurse asked briskly as she worked on gathering up things. Her tone, though brisk and sometimes harsh-sounding, was filled with concern and pity.

Remus tried to smile and reassure her but all he could do was grimace and shake his head. He felt sick and shaky.

"Alright, come on, let's go," she said, walking over and wrapping an arm around his shoulder and leading him out.

Once in the passage, Remus staggered alone down the tunnel. He was a bit bothered that he couldn't find Sirius, Peter, or James before having to head out. He hated not talking to them before a transformation. He always feared that it would be the last time he'd see his friends. He knew that his bites were not harmful to other animals, but that didn't stop him from fearing that he would injure one of them beyond repair.

;;

"This is ridiculous."

"No, it's practical."

"No, it's stupid."

"Do you want to get caught out of bed by Filch and get detention?"

"...No."

"Than shut up or someone will hear you!"

"You're talking too!"

"Shoooosh!"

Alisha and Kelsey were hiding behind a statue-covered wall out in the courtyard. They had managed to meet up and sneak out of the castle without being seen. Now all that posed a threat was the bridge. They would have to run out into the open and dash across the bridge before being mostly home free.

"Should we go together or one at a time?"

"We'd make a lesser target if we went one at a time."

"Okay."

Kelsey dashed forward, flailing her arms and trying not to make squeaking sounds as she fled from the courtyard. Alisha rolled her eyes but giggled quietly. She glanced around before dashing forward as well. Both girls tore their way down along the bridge before breaking out the other side. They both ran off and hid behind a tree.

Kelsey, who was panting more out of anxiety than anything else, looked over at Alisha, who was holding her breath and glaring. "How are we going to get past the tree? It'll try and kill us!"

Alisha let out the breath she'd been holding and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "We will immobilize it," she stated confidently, pulling out her wand. "Let's go."

**;;;;;**

Kelsey and Alisha approached the infamous Whomping Willow. It looked harmless enough, as trees go. But they got a first-hand look at how dangerous it could be when a crow flew near and landed on one of the stationary branches. The tree lifted a strand of its whip-like leaves, and whipped at the bird. The leaves hit the bird with a resounding _thwack_, and a cloud of feathers floated in the air where the bird had once been.

Kelsey and Alisha winced and looked at each other, the slight fear in their eyes illuminated by the full moon. They nodded to each other, then stood and raised their wands.

"Ready?" Alisha asked.

Kelsey swallowed. "Yep."

They stood in silence for a moment.

"Go," Alisha breathed.

The girls ran across the grass, running full-tilt towards the tree that would surely do away with them as easily as it had the crow that had dared perch on it.

It was as if the tree heard them coming, and it raised its branches, ready to attack.

The two raised their wands and shouted, "_Immobulus_!"

Blue light shot from their wands, hitting the tree. The tree almost shivered, then froze, its branches dropping harmlessly at its sides.

Alisha and Kelsey kept running, then crouched down at the base of the tree.

"Peter said it was a knot you have to poke?"

"That's what he said," Kelsey confirmed, running her hands along the roots and trunk, searching in the near-darkness for the knot. She snatched her hand back when she felt a part of the tree collapse back, and both girls looked up when a door swung open, showing dirt stairs carved into the ground.

"Guess that was it," Kelsey said as they picked themselves up off the ground.

"Let's go," Alisha said, walking through the door.

Kelsey quickly followed, afraid the freezing charm would wear off and the tree would wake up and just knock her through the door itself. The door closed after them, and they were swallowed up by the darkness. "_Lumos_," Kelsey said, a bright light appearing on the tip of her wand. Alisha followed suit, and they started down the stairs.

The dirt slowly turned to stone as the girls descended down lower and lower underground. Cold water dripped down the walls, making the girls shiver slightly. They kept their wands up in front of them, lighting the way.

Kelsey was shivering from more than just the cold. Her logic told her that there would, most likely, be nothing truly scary or dangerous inside the Shrieking Shack. But a thought tugged on her mind, telling her to keep her guard up. Alisha was convinced that there was nothing to fear in the Shack. She was certain that it was just another of Sirius' stupid pranks that James had helped concoct. She was determined to get there before Severus did, and catch Sirius and James in the act so she could beat them up herself. Then Severus would have nothing to worry about, and James and Sirius could be humiliated for a change.

Yes, this was how she saw it going in her mind—all according to her plan.

**;;;;;**

Remus sat on the broken, dusty mattress, his knees nearly touching his chest. He was hunched over, breathing hard. His insides felt like they were trying to twist and climb up his throat. He clawed at his knee and tugged at his hair, the fresh pains keeping his mind off of the ache that was building up in his body. When he heard footsteps on the stairs, he didn't think much of it. He knew Sirius, James, and Peter would be there sooner or later. It wasn't the first time they'd been there before his transformation.

But when the door swung open and two girls walked in, he fell into full panic mode. He stood up quickly and looked at them, eyes wide, skin pale. "Alisha? Kelsey? !" He approached them. "What are you doing here? No, no it doesn't matter. You two have to leave!"

"Remus?" Kelsey asked nervously as he all but started shoving them towards the door.

"Hey, stop it," Alisha snapped as she stumbled into the door-frame.

"You have to leave!" he snapped in panic.

"Remus, we're here to stop James and Sirius from—" Kelsey jumped when Remus turned on her.

"LEAVE!" he yelled.

He looked so different. His features looked harsher, darker. His eyes were narrowed and sharp with dark circles beneath them. His hair stuck up at odd angles and his skin looked both pale and flushed at the same time. He stood differently. He looked like he was in pain but at the same time overly confident. He seemed like a completely different person.

"Remus..."

"What are you two doing here?"

Both girls jumped and glanced back as Severus appeared through the door. But before either could speak, a high pitched scream caused their blood to freeze in their veins.

"What the devil? !" Severus cried.

Remus took a few steps back, screaming as he pulled at his hair and fell back. He screamed and writhed on the floor, rolling this way and that way jerkily. His screams grew deeper and deeper. The sound of breaking bones filled the room as his form began to warp slightly, bones jutting out at odd angles and moving beneath the flesh. His ears grew longer and pointed. His knee joints popped and his legs lengthened, as did his arms. His pant-legs ripped as his legs extended themselves. His shirt ripped away from him as his shoulders popped rolled and re-adjusted and expanded. His neck grew longer, stronger. Hair began rising up from his skin, covering his skin in a light coating of fur. His nails lengthened and darkened. His face grew longer and misshapen. His screams turned to howls and growls as he continued to thrash.

"Oh my God," Alisha breathed, eyes wide in horror as she stepped back, bumping into Severus slightly, which caused them both to stumble slightly against the door-frame.

Kelsey, who was frozen to the spot, eyes wide, gazed at the creature that rose up from the floor. Tears of fright and disbelief sparkled in the corners of her eyes. "Remus..."

The beast turned his cold green gaze on them all. His lips curled back in a low snarl, exposed canines dripping with saliva as the snarl turned into a deep growling sound that grew deeper in the creature's chest.

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

Kelsey couldn't even identify the voice as she stared at the beast gazing at them. She heard a commotion behind her and saw the beast snap and crouch before a hand grabbed her by the back of the shirt and dragged her backwards. The last thing she saw before the door closed was the creature lunging at her, mouth open.

Four figures threw themselves out of the entrance to the Shrieking Shack and onto the grass beneath the Whomping Willow. They quickly scurried away from the tree to safety.

Alisha collapsed to her knees, breathing hard and trying to hold in sobs as she shook like a leaf.

Severus was clutching his arm, which was bleeding, with a slightly pained look.

James was standing there with a strained, worried look on his face, panting slightly as he hunched over.

Kelsey walked away a few steps before falling to the ground. Tears slid down her face and fell to the grass as she stared, wide-eyed, at nothing.

When they'd left the room it hadn't taken long for the beast to follow. He had thrown the door open, sending wood planks flying towards them. One had struck Severus in the arm, breaking the bone with a sickening crunch. They'd all fallen down through the trap door. Kelsey was sure she'd sprained her wrist and knew she was covered in bumps and scratches—but she couldn't feel anything. She'd gone numb.

"Are you okay?"

"I think my ankle's sprained," Alisha mumbled from behind her. _Remus_, she thought in disbelief.

**;;;;;**

Most everything that happened that night after those events was a blur to Kelsey. She vaguely remembered James and Sirius taking her, Alisha, and Severus to the infirmary. Alisha later told her that James had gone to Dumbledore and told him everything. He'd told the Headmaster that the prank had been Sirius' idea, but that he would accept punishment because he'd done nothing to stop it. He'd also requested that Remus receive no punishment, because it hadn't been his fault.

Kelsey just stared off into space, her streak varying from a green-brown to grey and then to white. She didn't speak as the nurse bandaged her wounds, and took the medicine offered her without complaint. She could feel Alisha looking at her, concerned, and she heard bits and pieces of James and Sirius trying to apologize to her, but her mind was still in the Shrieking Shack, reliving what she'd seen. The sound of Remus shouting at her to leave. The images of his horrific transformation. His long, sharp teeth snapping at her as he was pulled backwards out of the room. Falling through the trap door and only faintly feeling the pain in her body. The pain in her mind was more excruciating, because she wasn't sure which she was more hurt by—the fact that he'd tried to kill her, or the fact that he'd yelled at her to leave.

Once her wounds had been tended to, silent tears started to run down her face. She sat still on the edge of the infirmary bed, unable to move.

She distinctly remembered Dumbledore himself coming to the infirmary. She remembered that he'd spoken to her, but she'd been unable to answer. All she remembered him saying were things she already knew.

How, when a human undergoes the monthly transformation into a werewolf every full moon, they lose their humanity and themselves. That they pose the greatest danger to the human nearest them. That they can't control their actions, and would even kill their best friend, given the opportunity. She knew that. She knew that, if a werewolf is left with nothing to attack, it will do harm to itself instead. She knew all of that.

But she was still just in a state of utter...shock. Remus, the young boy she'd come to know as kind-hearted and good-natured, not capable of killing, was a werewolf. She knew it explained his monthly disappearances, when everyone was told that he'd gone to visit his ill mother. It explained his odd behavior just earlier that day when he'd seen the book she was reading. She'd seen the transformation herself, but it still didn't seem possible.

She remembered Dumbledore telling her that the shock would pass. That Remus was still Remus, despite his condition. She knew all that, too. Still, it was sort of nice to hear it from someone else.

Dumbledore took his leave, telling the nurse to keep a close eye on Kelsey in particular. Most likely because she was the only one not speaking yet. The nurse then told all of us to get some sleep. Kelsey numbly laid down, cradling her injured wrist to her chest. She closed her eyes slowly, more tears dripping out and landing on her pillow.

Alisha slept little that night, kept awake with worry for her friend and with distress from what had happened. Remus was a werewolf. He'd tried to attack them. He probably would've killed them had James and Sirius not interfered. James himself had pulled Kelsey out of Remus' reach, most likely saving her life.

That was the other shocking part. Maybe just because she'd come to know James as an inconsiderate jerk with no human emotions whatsoever, but...the fact that he'd saved her best friend's life had to count for something, right?

Kelsey curled in on herself, hugging her arm tighter to her. She kept seeing Remus' pained expression, kept hearing his screams as he transformed. She pulled the blanket up over her head, curling up tighter, as if this would drown the memories from her mind.

She knew that she should've been afraid. She'd told herself that she should've run away. Werewolves were bad. They were dangerous. The werewolf could've killed her. But she hadn't truly been afraid. Because it wasn't a werewolf she'd been standing in front of. To her, it was still Remus.

_Maybe it was stupid of me to think that,_ she thought. _Werewolves can't tell friend from foe, and attack whoever is nearest. In this case, that was me. It wouldn't have mattered, because it _wasn't_ Remus standing in front of me. Not anymore._

Her logic wasn't helping to console her any, and it wasn't helping her sleep either. Every time she would start to drift off to sleep, she would see the werewolf lunging at her, trying to bite her, and she would have to use all of her will power to keep from screaming. Then she would start crying again because she hated that she was afraid. She didn't want to be afraid. She wanted to force herself to get out of the infirmary bed, go back to the Shrieking Shack, and make sure Remus was alright. But all she could do was hug herself and try to fight the images of the werewolf from her mind.

_I'm such a coward_, she thought. _I think of him as my friend, and...I can't do anything. All I can do is lay here and be weak. I can't help him._

_ I can't do anything._

**;;;;;**

Early that next morning—the sun having barely risen in the sky—the doors to the infirmary opened and two people entered, not all too quietly but obviously trying not to wake anyone.

Kelsey rolled over slightly and gazed at the bed next to her. Alisha was facing her, curled up beneath her bedding. The sheet was pulled to cover her mouth and nose, and her head was shoved under the pillow slightly, but her eyes were open. Due to the blank stare and the tears seeping down the corners of her eyes, it was obvious she hadn't slept much.

A little further down, Severus slept soundly on his back, arm bandaged. He'd been given pain killers and didn't stir at the sound.

"Did I hurt them?" a quietly choked voice asked just out of Kelsey's line of vision.

"No, no, they'll be fine. You need to get some rest. Just lay down," the nurse snapped quietly. "I'm giving you some pain medication so you'll be drowsy for a while."

"I don't want any."

"I know you don't, but you're going to take it."

After a few moments, the nurse returned to her office and silence descended.

Kelsey shifted slightly, her fingers curling around the corner of her pillow. She wanted to get up and go over to Remus to talk to him, but, at the same time, she wasn't sure what she wanted to say. She was nervous and weary. So instead, she closed her eyes and decided to wait till everyone else began to stir.

;;

After breakfast—which was served in bed—the four patients were visited by James, Sirius, and Peter. They quickly went to Remus' side. Remus was sitting up in bed, a tray of food laying across his lap. He hadn't eaten much of anything. He was merely poking at his eggs with a fork.

Sirius stood at the side of his bed, looking extremely apologetic. "Remus. I am—"

"They could have gotten killed," came a quiet interjection.

Sirius paused before leaning closer. "Remus, I'm really—"

"YOU COULD HAVE COST THEM THEIR LIVES!"

Everyone in the room jumped slightly at the outburst.

Sirius bowed his head and didn't move.

"HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW STUPID THAT WAS? WHAT IF I'D KILLED THEM? OR WORSE, WHAT IF I'D TURNED THEM? !" Remus was crying now, angry tears rolling down his cheeks as he glared at his friend. He inhaled sharply. "I thought you understood how frightened this makes me. I thought you knew that I always feared killing someone or turning someone. I guess I was wrong," he said as he rubbed at his eyes.

"Remus, I am _so_ sorry. I can't even tell you how sorry I am. I didn't think things would go so wrong."

"Exactly. You should've thought!"

Sirius finally looked up. Remus wasn't looking at him. He was glaring off towards the other corner, tears still sliding slowing from his eyes.

"Remus, are you ever going to look at me again?"

"Yes."

"Are... Are we still friends?"

A few extra tears escaped the other's eyes. "I... I don't know."

James took Sirius' shoulder and pulled lightly. "Come on, mate. Let's go. We're not welcome here," he whispered. The three turned and left the infirmary.

**;;;;;**

Everyone else remained silent through Remus' outburst, and watched as James, Sirius, and Peter left. Kelsey wanted to cry all over again, but instead choked back her tears and looked down at her food tray. She also hadn't eaten much—just a few bites of toast and a glass of water. She was more focused on calming down (and thinking of something to say to Remus) than on feeding himself.

Silent tears ran down Alisha's face, and she furiously wiped them away. Unlike Remus and Kelsey, she'd cleaned every dish on her tray, but her stomach still felt empty and still ached.

Severus had picked at his food a little, but claimed that the pain killers had made him lose his appetite. More than likely, he was still in just as much shock as the girls were.

Silence once again hung over the room, and no eye contact was made with Remus. The nurse came around and took their trays away, then checked over their bandages and wounds to make sure they were doing alright.

Kelsey choked back more tears as she glanced at the nurse looking Remus over. Long gashes covered his body where he'd clawed at himself. Furious, hurt tears still rolled down his face. He looked so broken, she could hardly stand it.

What made it worse was what he'd said to Sirius. She knew how close they all were. And while she couldn't condone what Sirius had done or that James hadn't stepped forward beforehand to stop it from happening, she knew that they were truly sorry. She hoped that, somehow, their friendship could be restored.

Alisha was more concerned for Kelsey now that she could clearly see the streak in her hair. It had been black since the night before, no other colors flickering through it—not even for the briefest of moments. Black was one of those colors Alisha didn't want to see in Kelsey's hair for more than an hour. She knew black was one of the worst colors her hair could turn.

The nurse finished checking Remus over, then walked back over to her office.

Kelsey made a snap decision and pushed back the blankets on her bed, carefully swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

Alisha looked at her with wide eyes. "Kelsey..."

Kelsey heaved a heavy sigh, getting her bearings as she sat up. "I'm alright," she breathed—the first words she'd spoken since the night before. With her good arm, she pushed herself up into a standing position. She stumbled forward a little, using the nightstand next to her bed as a support. She stood there for a moment, then took a deep breath and started away. She had to lean on the foot-board of her bed when she got there, but then managed to make it across the room to Remus' bed without much more trouble.

She dropped herself down on the empty next to Remus', sighing.

He looked at her, surprised, then averted his eyes, the hurt expression returning. Kelsey thought for a moment, forming her words. "...Remus."

He didn't look at her.

"Remus," she repeated, her voice a little stronger. "Please look at me."

He hesitated for a moment, then looked at her.

She mustered up a small smile. "I'm alright, see? We're all okay. I just hurt my wrist, Alisha hurt her ankle, and Severus' arm is broken, but—"

"You're not alright," Remus interrupted.

She blinked at him.

"I can tell." He looked at her. "Your streak is black. I may not know what it means, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean 'okay.'"

She looked away.

"How can you even try to say that you're alright after what happened?" he asked, his voice soft but strong.

Kelsey looked at him again, then took a breath. "Maybe because I'm more worried about you."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "About me?"

"Yeah," she said. "Because you hurt yourself so badly."

He gripped the blanket that laid over him in his fist. "Why did you go there?"

She was quiet.

"What possessed you to sneak out of your dorms in the middle of the night and go to the Shrieking Shack?"

"...Because we overheard what Sirius was planning, and we thought it was just going to be another one of their stupid pranks. We went for Severus, to keep Sirius from making a fool out of him."

"So you knew what would be waiting for you there, and you still went?"

"No," she said firmly. "We heard your name spoken, but had no idea how or if you were involved."

He looked away, then sighed. "Of all the people I know here, I thought you'd be the first to figure it out. You notice everything, and you're so meticulous. I thought you'd put together the monthly disappearances, the scars..."

"I could never have assumed something like that of you."

He looked surprised again.

"I think of you as a friend. To even conceive the thought that my friend could possibly be a werewolf or anything else would mean insulting that friend."

He thought about that for a moment. "But...I _am _a monster," he said quietly. He looked her in the eye and asked, "Are you afraid of me?"

She thought. Then she shook her head. "No. I'm not afraid of you."

"You look afraid."

"I'm not afraid of you," she repeated. "I might be a little afraid _for_ you, but..."

"Afraid _for_ me?"

"Of course." She hung her head. "Last night, I _was_ afraid, and I hate that I was afraid of you. I hate that I couldn't think of anything to do to help you."

He looked up at the ceiling. "Well...it would seem I'm beyond help, really."

"You are not!"

He started a little as she jumped to her feet and clenched her hand into a fist at her side.

"You never say that, Remus Lupin! Not while I'm around! You can't just give up! If I ever hear you sound like you're going to give up, and I'll...I'll put hair-raising potion in your pumpkin juice every day!"

He blinked at her for a few moments. He cracked a smile, then chuckled. A couple seconds later, he started laughing. He was on the verge of tears, he was laughing so hard.

Kelsey sighed, sitting herself back down on the bed. "It wasn't supposed to make you laugh..."

"I'm sorry," Remus said, catching his breath. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh."

Kelsey waited silently for his laughter to die down.

He sighed and looked at her. "I just hate to think of what I'm capable of in that state. And seeing that you were there, knowing that you all were going to be there while I couldn't control my actions..." He looked away. "It's all the doing of that idiot Sirius." He clenched his hands into fists. "He's so stupid! I could've killed you all! I could've killed you. I could've...turned you..." He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the heels of his hands over his eyes. He started crying again.

Kelsey pushed herself up from where she was sitting and rested a hand on Remus' shoulder. He took one hand from his face and put it over her hand, squeezing it.

"If I'd bitten you..." He gasped, sobbing.

Kelsey squeezed his shoulder. "It's okay, Remus. It's gonna be okay." _I swear it will be._

**;;;;;**

Alisha couldn't help but smile to herself. After all of that, Kelsey still managed to surprise her. She wondered if she could take anymore surprises, and then movement caught her attention. Severus was sliding out of bed. His hair was sticking up in odd angles and he patted at it before giving up. Without a brush, it would be completely hopeless.

He hobbled over and stood behind Kelsey slightly. "Lupin," he said, his voice quieter and edgier than usual and lacking the venom. Dark eyes looked away when the other boy looked at him. He couldn't look at the slightly younger boy. "I...won't tell anyone," he stated simply before hobbling away.

The nurse poked her head out of her office and snapped at him, asking where he thought he was going.

"I'm going to the loo, I refuse to use a bedpan. I have a broken arm, I can manage," he snapped back before leaving for a few minutes.

Alisha looked after him, eyes wide. Had she just heard what she thought she just heard? She felt an odd fluttering in her chest and she bowed her head slightly, a small smile adorning her lips. Her respect for the other Slytherin had rocketed through the roof. She looked over at Remus and nodded. "I won't either, Remus. Promise."

**;;;;;**

Everyone looked at Kelsey. Kelsey looked back curiously. "What?" She started. "Oh, you think I'm going to tell? Of course I won't! I'll take it to my grave."

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Remus said. He smiled. "But thank you." Kelsey smiled back. "You're welcome." She put her hand on his shoulder again. "Get some rest, okay? And don't worry about us. We'll be fine."

"Only if you don't worry about me."

She smiled again. "Well, no promises, but I'll try." Kelsey walked back over to her bed, her steps more steady now. She laid back down, folding her hurt arm against her chest and curling up. She smiled and looked over at Alisha. Alisha smiled at her, shaking her head a little. Then she got a mischievous grin on her face and glanced toward Remus. Kelsey blushed, giving her a look as her streak turned a pale amber. At least it wasn't black anymore. Alisha was satisfied.

Severus hobbled back in a minute later. He sat back on his bed and laid down. He noticed Alisha smiling a little at him, and he shifted his gaze away from her. "What?" he asked.

She started. "Oh, uh..." She thought about saying something, but... "N-Nothing. Never mind." And she laid back down and turned away from him. She looked down at her hand pressed against the sheet under her. She'd wanted to tell him how much she respected him, but she wondered how he would take such a statement. She figured he would probably close up and not say anything at all. And she didn't want that. Especially not then.

;;

Alisha and Kelsey were released from the infirmary that afternoon, and Remus was released two days after that. Severus, unfortunately, spent a week in the infirmary, but Alisha dragged Kelsey in to visit him at least once a day so he wouldn't feel lonely. Severus wore a cast on his arm for several weeks after as well.

For the entire week that followed the event that would later be called "Sirius' Worst Prank Ever" among the group, Remus refused to talk to either Sirius or James. As a matter of fact, he hardly talked to anyone besides Kelsey and Alisha—Kelsey more often, usually. He was still upset, even several days after the incident, apologizing over and over. Alisha was ready to jinx him after the first day, but Kelsey was much more patient, assuring him that they understood and had forgiven him. It wasn't like it was his fault, and none of them had been seriously injured. (Well, unless you consider a broken arm a serious injury.)

But, mostly, Remus talked to Kelsey about how lonely he felt sometimes. He got a lot of crap from people who were prejudiced against his kind. He confided in her his frustrations and fears, but also his happier times with Sirius, James, and Peter. Kelsey was glad that he was talking about them without hate or resentment in his voice. They were such close friends, and even if one of them had done something really stupid, it didn't seem right for them to be at odds this way. She told him that, among other things—told him how lucky he was to have such friends as the Marauders, that no one was perfect and that people mess up sometimes. That if he deserved forgiveness, then so did they.

Alisha, on the other hand, was still trying to figure out how to thank Severus for what he'd said to Remus, and about her respect for him. Nothing seemed to sound right. And Severus was just as distant and quiet as ever. It was almost as if he was harder to reach now. This frustrated Alisha, but it frustrated her even more that she didn't know what to do. By the end of the week, Kelsey had convinced Remus to go talk things over with Sirius, James, and Peter. They had a good, long talk, and things were soon resolved and forgiven.

James, unfortunately, had only had a brief bout of maturity, and, after they were all back on speaking terms, he was back to his cocky, pranskter self. This somewhat relieved Kelsey, because it meant things were going to go back to the way they were regardless of this discovery. It just upset Alisha and made her want to kill James even more.

In spite of the incident, the friendships among these students seemed to grow even stronger, especially in the case of James & Co. But it affected Kelsey and Alisha, too. They steadily grew closer to the boys, and were often seen roaming the halls together inbetween classes. The girls, like Remus, though, took no part in the bullying perpetrated by James and Sirius. The girls would step in if it got really bad, but weren't usually around to see the bullying. Overall, though, the five became rather close friends. Alisha still tried her hardest to get closer to Severus, but because of the animosity between James and Sirius and Snape, having him join their group seemed impossible. She wasn't going to give up, though. No, not by a long shot.

;;

Thus continued the Marauders' third year at Hogwarts, the year of "Sirius' Worst Prank Ever."


	3. Chapter 1, Ever Changing

**ALRIGHTY! :D It's time for the "official" first chapter of this story! ^.^ Thank you again to all of you who are reading and reviewing. BondSlave and I are still hard at work on this story, and write new parts almost every day. We really appreciate all of your support and kind words ^.^**

**This chapter is kind of shorter, but it's one of the first instances BondSlave and I talked about putting in this story. Granted, we came up with this (and many more ideas) between the hours of two and five am, but they're still valid and incredibly funny! ...Well, to us xD We hope you find them funny as well ^.^**

**Enjoy! Thank you again, everyone!**

**P.S.: MEGAN OMIGOSH YOU'RE READING THIS kghgfsijfaksf I LOVE YOU.  
>okayi'mdoneyoucanreadnow :)<strong>

**-I. Ever-Changing-**_**  
>In which the Marauders go hunting.<strong>_

Alisha walked cheerfully along the corridor, humming an odd little tune to herself, her destination unimportant. She nodded and waved at people she passed, and they did the same. Despite being anti-social, the few people who had managed to spend more than ten minutes with her liked her, making her popular amongst the outcasts and underdogs at the school, which was fine by her. Sometimes they would ask her why she bothered acknowledging them, and when she asked why she wouldn't, it always came down to the same thing: _You hang out with Potter's gang._

Ah, yes. That. Despite being a Slytherin, the gang had included her into the group. She was sure that, with James and Sirius, it was more guilt over what had happened between them all. Remus included her because she was friends with Kelsey, and Peter was simply too scared of her to object. She would always give the same response: _I'm not one of them. I don't want to be popular. This is where I belong._

It had been a long year since that night—the night she, Kelsey, and Severus had discovered that Remus was a werewolf. All because of a stupid prank gone wrong, orchestrated by Sirius. It had taken a while for all the wounds to heal and some still seeped, but, mostly, things had gone back to normal and they'd all grown pretty close. Save for Severus. He was as distant and anti-social as ever, which really bothered Alisha.

;;

Remus paced the mostly empty dorm, nibbling on a fingernail. Sirius and James watched him, sitting on their respective beds with somewhat bored yet curious expressions. Peter was nowhere to be found.

"Remus, will you calm down, mate?" Sirius asked.

"I can't calm down! I haven't been able to since King's Cross," he said as he continued to pace.

"That was three weeks ago!"

James rolled his eyes at Remus' exasperation. What would the playboy understand about this situation? "Relax, mate. Staying so anxious won't help anything. It will just make you jumpy and nervous, and we get enough of that a week before the…you know what."

Remus shot the glasses-wearing boy a glare that could have killed before it melted away to be replaced by the anxiety once again. "Its just… I didn't even know I felt like this."

"Felt like what?" Sirius asked.

Remus walked to his bed and flopped down on his back. "Felt this way about Kelsey."

Silence descended upon the dorm room before Sirius exploded with laughter and James tried to restrain his giggles. Remus' eyes narrowed at the ceiling.

"You like Kelsey? Really? Wow, this is too priceless," James said before Sirius joined him on his bed.

"Our little Remie is growing up so fast!" Sirius said in a mock-choked voice.

Remus grabbed his pillow and chucked it at the other two. "Oh, shut up! I should have known better than to tell you two."

James sat up and tossed the pillow back on Remus' bed before joining him. "Now, now, all joking aside. The fact that you like Kelsey is actually pretty cool. She seems to be a nice enough girl and she seems trustworthy. If you like her, then go for it."

"That's the problem," Remus said. "I don't know if she likes me like that. I don't know anything about her. She's a mystery. I can't read her at all. I know that little streak of hers shows off her feelings and emotions, but I can't read her any better."

Sirius, who'd been listening from James' bed, got a mischievous little twinkle in his eye before jumping up. "Come on!"

Remus blinked, as did James. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to hunt Edwards!" he called as he bounded out of the dorm.

James and Remus shared a glance before following.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey hummed quietly to herself as she walked out a door and into one of the outdoor corridors, holding a book, notebook, and pencil under her arm. A couple Gryffindor girls passed, waving and saying, "Hi." Kelsey smiled and waved back. She could place the girls' faces, but couldn't for the life of her think of their names. She was terrible with names, especially if the meeting with the person was fleeting and she didn't have a chance to hear their name spoken more than once. This had been happening more and more often in the past year—ever since she and Alisha had started hanging out with Marauders. The Marauders didn't seem to mind that she was a Ravenclaw, but she sensed some disapproval of Alisha's status as a Slytherin—mostly from James and Sirius. (Remus didn't seem to mind at all.) But Kelsey had put her foot down, and was prepared to tell them that they'd just have to deal with it if they decided to start complaining.

She set her things down on the short wall of the corridor, then hoisted herself up onto it. She scooted herself closer to the pillar behind her, leaning against it. She then picked up her book and flipped to the bookmark she'd placed inside it. She took the bookmark out, holding it in her right hand against the back of the book, and started reading.

Granted, Kelsey was distracted by her book, but, even if she hadn't been, she surely wouldn't have noticed the three pairs of eyes watching her as she read. She was just that oblivious.

;;

Remus sighed, running a hand through his hair. He wondered how he'd let himself get dragged into this plan of Sirius'. Then he remembered, _Oh, yeah..._

James and Sirius were crouched next to him on the grass, and they peeked out of the bush they were hiding in and at the girl sitting on the other side of the corridor. Yes. The _bush_. Hey, it was Sirius' idea, after all.

Sirius held a small notebook and pencil in his hand, ready to make note of their observations. Remus suddenly felt like they were watching some rare bird, not an actual person.

"What's she doing?" Sirius whispered.

"She's reading," James answered. "Her streak is sort of...green-ish."

Silence for a moment.

"Yeah, I got nothing," Sirius said.

"Oh, wait," James said. "Now some other Ravenclaw girl's walked up."

"Color?" Sirius asked.

James waited for a moment. "It's...turning red."

Sirius looked up, thinking. "Doesn't red usually mean, like...love?"

James popped his head up out of the bush, leaves and twigs sticking in his dark hair. "She swings that way? !"

Remus reached a hand up and grabbed onto James' collar, yanking him back down into the bush as Kelsey and the other Ravenclaw snapped their heads up and looked around at the shout.

"Did you hear something?" Kelsey asked.

"I thought I did," the other girl said.

The two shrugged and went back to their conversation.

Remus hit James in the back of the head, giving him a look and trying not to look flustered. "Shut up!" he hissed. "Red means she's getting angry, dumbass! Can't you tell how fake her smile looks? !" But, inside, he was thinking, _Please don't let James be right!_

Sirius' brow furrowed at his notebook. "'Swings that way'...?" He shook his head. "Never mind. The girl's left now."

"Right," James said, turning his attention back to Kelsey and rubbing the slow-forming bump on his head. "Now she's...talking to some guy."

Remus snapped his head up and shoved himself to the front of the bush. "What? What guy?" he asked frantically.

The three looked at the fellow fourth-year talking to Kelsey. Her streak was fading from red to black.

"Oh, it's a Hufflepuff," Remus said, sounding a little relieved as he frowned. _Never mind..._

After the Hufflepuff boy left, Kelsey's streak returned to its lighter green color. A few minutes later, she hopped down off the wall, gathered up her things, and started walking away.

"Target is in motion!" James whispered.

"What now?" Sirius asked.

James thought for a moment. "Keep calm, gents. I've got an idea."

;;

Kelsey casually strolled through the rows and rows of shelves in the library, blue-green eyes alight with joy at the sight of all the books. Her streak turned a cool blue as she roamed the library, not knowing that she was still being watched.

;;

Remus sighed heavily, casting a sideways look at his fellow Marauders on the ground next to him. James' "idea" had been to take the bush with them, which was where James and Sirius were still hiding. Remus, knowing that was a stupid idea, chose to hide behind a gigantic encyclopedia on plants instead.

"You guys are morons," Remus said quietly.

"You're not any less conspicuous, mate," James shot back.

They all froze and fell silent when they saw Kelsey coming towards them. She was looking over the titles of a couple books she'd picked up, and paused when she saw the bush on the floor. She tilted her head, her streak turning a pale pink. (The boy hiding behind the big book didn't escape her sight either.) She thought for a moment, then shrugged. _Oh well_, she thought. _This _is _Hogwarts._ And she checked out her books and left the library.

"Damn, she's left again," James said. "Now we've gotta move this stupid thing back outside."

Remus sighed heavily, and was tempted to throw the encyclopedia at James and Sirius and just leave. But...still, he couldn't help but admit that he _was_ curious. Sometimes, there seemed to be no pattern to the changes in her hair. Then he wondered if perhaps he was focusing too much on the changing colors of her hair instead of the actual look in her eyes and on her face. It was a theory he would have to look into.

**;;;;;**

Alisha exited the school and wandered outside, where it only took her a few moments to locate Kelsey and join her. No one really knew how she could find the other girl so quickly—some said she was a stalker—but the truth behind it was that Kelsey was just that predictable.

She sat down on one of the large stone railings that separated the outdoors corridor and the rest of the grounds. "Hey there," she said.

The other girl looked up from her book and smiled. "Hey." Her smiled faded and she gave the other girl an odd expression. "I saw the strangest thing today."

"Oh?"

Kelsey looked back to her book. "Yeah, there were some bushes in the library. Strange, huh?"

"Bushes?" Alisha asked, face hardening as she shot a glare to the bushes poking out from around the corner, which quickly retreated. She slid off of the railing and walked down the corridor.

"Alisha?"

She didn't reply and rounded the corner.

Kelsey blinked curiously, looking after her friend, who had rounded the corner and vanished out of sight. Had she said something?

"YOU IDIOTS!" yelled Alisha from around the corner, followed by the sound of a spell cracking from her wand.

Kelsey paled and blinked her wide blue eyes as the other girl rounded the corner again, tucking her wand back into her robes. Kelsey continued to stare at her friend as she regained her place on the railing, a disapproving look on her face. "W-why'd you beat up the bush?"

"Never mind, Kelsey. It was a pervy bush."

Kelsey didn't reply for a moment, then perked up in mock horror, "Claude was in the bush? !"

Alisha grinned and pointed enthusiastically. "Yes!"

Both girls fell into a fit of giggles.

;;

Remus, who had been somewhat paralyzed by Alisha's hex, lay on his back, looking up through the bush to the celing while James and Sirius groaned on the floor beside him. His brows furrowed as he listened to the girls. "Claude? Who's Claude?" he asked before looking over at the other two. "None of us are Claude…unless one of you is called that?"

Both shook their heads as they sat up.

Sirius rubbed his head, grimacing. Alisha may not have been the smartest or most powerful witch in Hogwarts, but she could pack a wallop. "Isn't there a Claude in Hufflepuff?"

Remus's eyes widened. "Damn IT!" he snapped as he rolled away and out of the bush.

James and Sirius watched him and thought, _Does he intend to roll all the way to the Hufflepuff common room?_

**;;;;;**

It seemed that that was exactly what Remus intended to do, and he made it all the way to the painting that made up the door to the Hufflepuff common room. By that time, the effects of Alisha's hex had (mostly) worn off, and he was able stand on his feet.

A Hufflepuff first-year came along and spoke the password to the painting, and the frame swung back like a big door. Without a second thought, Remus leaped through the door and ran past the first-year into the common room.

"Alright," he said, his voice strong and demanding. "Which one of you here is Claude?"

Silence for a moment, then every eye in the place turned to look at a certain boy sitting in the corner doing homework. Remus looked the boy up and down, taking in his small frame, thin arms and legs, messy mass of black hair, and square glasses on his nose.

Remus turned away. "Sorry. Never mind." He headed back out of the common room and into the hall.

James and Sirius ran up then. "So what happened?" Sirius asked.

"Did you knock his head off?" James asked, always hoping that there'd be a fight.

Remus shook his head and breathed a sigh of relief. "Claude is some little first-year who couldn't even win a fight against a pixie."

James nodded. "Then I guess you've got nothing to worry about."

Remus smiled and nodded, secure in the fact that Claude wouldn't be a problem for him.

Sirius thought for a moment as Remus and James walked away from the Hufflepuff common room. "Unless Edwards is a pedo."

Remus and James froze in mid-step and turned to look at their friend. Remus stared at him with wide eyes.

James shook his head. "Oh, come on, Sirius! Of course she isn't! You've actually gone mad now."

"Hey, I'm just putting it out there..." Sirius said as he fell into step beside beside James.

Remus stood still for a moment, then jogged to catch up with his friends. "Sirius! You were joking, right? Sirius! Hey! Answer me! Get back here and tell me you were joking! SIRIUS!"

**So, the whole joke about Claude... For those of you who have seen the anime **_**Black Butler**_** (particularly the second season), Alisha and Kelsey were referring to the demon butler named Claude, who becomes something of a rival to Sebastian in the second season. He takes the form of a spider, which will be cause for later puns in the story. But, yes, so that's Claude! Not a little wimpy Hufflepuff necessarily, but a pervy demon butler! XD**

**Also, check out my/the UnderdogAngel tumblr to see fanart from this chapter (and more for this story)!  
><strong>

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ^.^ More coming soon!**


	4. Chapter 2, Fifth Year Starts

**WOO BondSlave and I have internet at the apartment! :D ...And our wireless network's name is Hogwarts. How epic am I? xD Definitely one of my better decisions... *grin***

**A'ight, on with this update! Oh goodness, all of your reviewers (including Mum!)—we love you all so much! 3 Thank you all for your kind words and wonderful reviews :3 Thanks to Pocky and Domo, saratheotaku, Nizuna Fujieda, and run4life (MEGAAAN I LOVE YOU)! You are all wonderful. :) Heh, we're glad you enjoyed that last madness-filled chapter XD That was one of the first chapters we'd planned out, and we had a lot of fun writing it. ^.^**

**Now onto the next chapter! Enjoy! (And be sure to keep checking the UnderdogAngel blog for updates!) Have a beautiful day, lovelies!**

**-II. Fifth Year Starts-**_**  
>In which thing start getting complicated.<strong>_

King's Cross Station—more specifically, Platform 9 ¾—was bustling with people. Kids of all ages roamed back and forth as they gathered their things and said farewell to their families and parents as they boarded the Hogwarts Express that puffed white smoke up and over the platform. Severus inhaled deeply and looked up at the large red and black train that would take him away from the world he considered a prison and to the world he belonged in. He was glad to be going back, even if he couldn't call Hogwarts a home. It was at least better than his real home.

Severus dragged his battered old trunk across the platform, weaving through the crowd and, every so often, bumping into people with empty, muttered apologies. He had almost made it to the train when, with a flash of fiery red, a girl launched herself at him and knocked him slightly off-balance. He teetered slightly, his arm automatically going around the girl's middle.

"Severus!"

"Lily," he greeted with a smile.

She was beaming. His smile grew slightly. She'd grown taller over the summer break. Her hair was longer, fuller. She looked so much more grown up. His ears burned slightly but were hidden, thankfully, by his long black hair.

"Oh, Severus, I am so glad to see you! I was so bummed when we didn't get to hang during break," she said with a pout, looking up at him through thick lashes. "Where were you?"

"I spent sometime with the Malfoys," he stated truthfully as they turned and headed to the train.

"The Malfoys?" she said, not bothering to hide her disapproval. "Oh, Severus, I wish you wouldn't hang out with that boy. He's a bad egg. He's a horrible influence," she stated. She hadn't released his arm. They walked arm in arm up the platform and onto the train.

"He's not that bad Lily. He's been there when no one else was." He looked at her. "Besides you," he added with a slight apologetic nod.

She huffed, but offered a smile. "Well, forget about him. Let's sit together. I want to hear about your summer and how you're doing." And with that, she took his hand and dragged him off down the rows of compartments.

Back out on the platform stood Alisha, watching the two walk off together. Her expression grew grim as she watched them enter the train. She bowed her head and tugged at her trunk. Albert hooted softly from his cage atop the trunk. She weaved through the crowd, dodging nervous first-years and obnoxious second-years.

She'd grown up a lot, she noted, since her first year. (Was she ever really that short?) Alisha was an average-sized girl of 5'7 ½ with a thick hour-glass shape that was usually hidden beneath her robes. Her hair had been cut and dyed. Her bangs swept across her face, short on one end and long on the other. Long strands of hair fell around her face, falling to just below her chin, while growing shorter and shorter as they went towards the back of her head. The hair in the back was spiked up and out. She wore a pair of blue metal-rimmed glasses that hid her hazel grin eyes.

She was dressed in skinny jeans with knee-high heeled leather boots and a long-sleeved black shirt with the Slytherin crest sewn onto it. A beaded bracelet adorned her wand hand, and silver and black hoop earrings dangled from her ears. She'd grown up a lot over the summer and learned more about herself. She knew it would be an interesting year.

Alisha hopped onto the train and made her way along the compartments. She paused outside of one compartments, gazing in. On the other side of the glass sat Lily and Severus. He was speaking, waving his hands with a smile—obviously describing something Lily found hilarious. Alisha felt her heart tighten in her chest as she watched them bask in each other's happiness. She'd known Severus for five years and had barely gotten him to tutor her in potions, and even that he did begrudgingly. It hurt. It hurt to like someone who obviously had no time or feelings for you.

_You're lucky, Lily,_ she thought to herself, trying not to be bitter.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey smiled widely at the Hogwarts Express, her European owl, Samson, hooting softly in his cage. Finally, summer had ended and it was time to return to Hogwarts. Not that she didn't enjoy the time with her family, but it was the goodbyes at the train station that always did her in. Or, at least, her mother. Her mother was terrible at these goodbyes, you see, even after doing it four times already. She still worried about her daughter, naturally, but Kelsey thought that twenty minutes of going over a checklist they'd been going over for a week was just too much. Her father and brother were much more obliging, insisting that Mrs. Edwards was going to make Kelsey late for her train. And, after that, she would wave and run off through the brick wall that took her to Platform 9 ¾. When she got there, a man who worked on the train helped her get her trunk on board, and she thanked him profusely.

She'd grown some, but she was still short—about five-foot four. For her height, though, she had quite long legs (and arms) that she didn't really know what to do with. She was past the stage where, from behind, people mistook her for a young boy, and had actually started looking like a young woman. She had some slight curves, but she knew her robes would hide them completely. She was just so small! And we're talking _small_. She ate just as much as (if not more than) the next girl, but her high metabolism kept her weight right around eighty-five pounds. She was _small_.

Her hair was a bit longer now—long enough to touch her shoulders. Her streak was still there, as bold and bright as ever, as were her bangs—a straight line crossing her forehead. If it was possible, her blonde highlights had become even blonder over the break, though she knew they would dull down some during the fall and winter.

She wore denim shorts that hit just at the middle of her thighs; black knee-high, lace-up sneakers; and a short-sleeved blue V-neck shirt with the Ravenclaw crest sewn onto the pocket on the left side. She wore blue and black striped fingerless gloves on her hands, and on her right wrist, over her glove, was a silver watch, the face of the clock set on the inside of her wrist. There was a silver ring on her right ring finger (she used to wear it on her left, as shown by the faint tan lines on her finger, but, over the summer, many people had asked her if she was married, so she'd switched hands), and she wore a small silver star hanging on a simple silver chain around her neck. Round, white gold, stud earrings were stuck in her ears, almost completely hidden by her hair.

She turned around in a circle, seeing if any of her friends were on the platform. Her eyes lit up (and her heart may have skipped a beat or two) when she saw a familiar face down the platform. He was helping a first-year boy get his trunk onto the train. She smiled and started weaving her way over to him. When she got closer, she raised one hand in the air, cupped the other around her mouth, and called, "Remus!"

Remus looked up at the sound of his name, and smiled when he saw her waving. He jumped down from the train, the first-year he'd been helping thanked him, and he turned just in time to see Kelsey collide with him, throwing her arms around his middle.

"It's so good to see you!" she said.

He smiled, blushing slightly and chuckling as he hugged her back. "It's good to see you, too." She stepped back and he looked at her. "I think you grew."

"I did indeed!" she said proudly. Then she fake-pouted. "But everyone's still taller than me! Especially you! What are you, six feet tall?"

He laughed. "Nearly five-foot ten, thank you. And not everyone! Peter's about your height! Maybe a little taller..."

"That doesn't count. He's always been short," she insisted.

"If you say so," he said with a smile.

"Now, now, can't leave the two of you alone for a moment, can we?" Sirius asked, grinning as he and James approached.

Kelsey shook her head, blushing a little. "Hello, James, Sirius, nice to see you as well."

"You know you're happy to see us, Edwards," James said, smirking and tugging on her streak (which had started to turn a faint black color).

The four looked up as the train whistle blew.

"Well, that's enough of the 'hello's," James said. He grabbed Kelsey's arm and easily threw her up into the train.

Kelsey landed on board with a soft _thud_ (which had followed the yelping sound she'd made when James had thrown her). "I could've gotten on myself, James!" she snapped.

"Brilliant, James!" Sirius said, laughing.

"Yeah, right genius, mate," Remus said dryly as James and Sirius followed him onto the train. He extended a hand down to Kelsey, asking, "Are you alright?"

She took his hand and stood up, nodding. "Yes, I'm fine. Just didn't see that coming, that's all."

"Well, now that we're all safely on board," James said, smirking, "let's go find a compartment. C'mon."

Kelsey glanced at Remus, and Remus just rolled his eyes. Kelsey laughed softly and followed James and Sirius down the car to find a compartment.

Kelsey stopped when they passed one compartment. She saw Severus sitting inside, talking and laughing with Lily Evans, a Gryffindor in their year that had been friends with Severus for many years. (And that James had been pining over since first year.) Her heart dropped into her stomach, and she wondered if Alisha had seen.

"What ch'you lookin' at?" James asked, stepping back and following Kelsey's gaze. "Oy, what's Snivelly doing talking to Evans?" he wondered aloud, not even trying to hide the disapproval (disgust?) in his voice.

Kelsey quickly shook her head. "It's none of our concenern," she said, and pushed James away and back forward to follow Remus and Sirius.

The group then found Alisha sitting alone in a compartment, looking out the window sadly. Kelsey said she was going to sit with her, but that none of the rest of them had to. James and Sirius said, "Okay!" and were about to leave, when Remus grabbed them by their shirt collars and pulled them back, saying that, no, they would all be sitting together. James and Sirius sighed, but didn't argue.

Kelsey slid back the compartment door, and Alisha looked up. Some of the sadness in her eyes drifted away as she smiled at her friend. "Kelsey!" she cried happily, jumping up from her seat to tackle her friend in a hug.

Kelsey hugged her back, smiling widely.

Alisha stepped back and patted her on the head. "Aw...you're still so small..."

Kelsey gave her a look. As if Alisha hadn't seen her nearly every day that summer and didn't know she was still short. "So I hear." She smiled. "Mind if we join you?"

She sighed. "Do James and Sirius _have_ to?"

Kelsey shrugged a little and said, "Remus insisted that they stay."

Alisha turned back to her seat. "Fine. But sit next to me before either of them do. I am _not_ going all the way to Hogwarts sitting next to James."

"Again."

"Yes, again."

**;;;;;**

The train ride to Hogwarts went well. The five of them laughed, joked, and played Exploding Snaps while sharing their summer adventures. Peter would pop in and out occasionally, but was constantly disappearing to who knew where. Alisha and Remus played wizard chess for a while, Alisha losing horribly due to one mistake or another that she would only catch after it was done and too late to fix. Kelsey continued to beat James and Sirius at Exploding Snaps until the snack cart wheeled up, and then all of them nearly lunged forward to buy their favorite sweets.

By the time the sun began to go down, the car was filled with empty pumpkin pasty wrappers, as well as empty boxes of Berty Bott's Every Flavor Beans and liquorish wands. Torn-open Chocolate Frog boxes littered the floor between the wrappers at their feet.

Alisha looked at the cards of famous wizards and witches she'd gotten while nibbling on the head of a chocolate frog—one she'd kindly let get its only good jump in.

They'd all listened to James and Sirius talk about their time in London shopping around in muggle shops, and a close run-in with the police—a story that had both Kelsey and Alisha snapping at them about being young men, that they should be more responsible wizards, and laws and other things that they knew the two boys wouldn't listen to. Remus gave a brief summary of his summer, which, according to him, had been rather dull.

After a while, talk died down, and Alisha pulled a book from her bag and leaned back against the seat reading. Sirius and James were playing wizard chess, and Remus was sitting across from Kelsey, nibbling on a liquorish wand.

"So Kelsey, how was your summer?" Remus asked.

Kelsey looked up—she'd been writing and doodling in a notebook—and blinked. "Uh, pretty good," she said, closing the notebook and thinking over her summer break. "Spent a lot of time with my family. Spent some time with my friends. Me and Alisha hung out with some of our muggle friends. It was really nice, really, since we hardly get to see them."

Remus frowned. "Isn't there one other girl who's a witch?"

"Yeah, but she's attending Beauxbatons Academy."

**;;;;;**

"We don't get to see her very often, so that was nice," Kelsey continued. "But...yeah." She laughed softly. "It doesn't seem like we did a lot, but it was fun, so I'm satisfied."

Remus laughed softly as well. "I'm glad."

She smiled. "I think I'm almost more excited about coming back to Hogwarts. But then what else is new?"

They both chuckled.

Kelsey glanced over at Alisha, who was still reading her book. She'd sensed something off about her since the minute they'd walked into the car. She opened her notebook again and scribbled out a message on the paper. She poked Alisha in the shoulder and pointed to her notebook page.

_Hey, you okay?_

Alisha sighed softly and pulled out her own pencil. She wrote on the notebook page, _Been better. Tell you at the castle, okay?_

Kelsey nodded and went back to doodling. She worried about Alisha sometimes. She often thought that, with her kind heart, she might've been more at home in another house. And then there were times when she was again reminded that Alisha was a Slytherin through-and-through. She worried nonetheless, especially after seeing Severus and Lily earlier. She'd been thinking that Alisha was starting to have some feelings for Severus, but Alisha had never said anything, so Kelsey kept quiet about it. But, if she did in fact have feelings for Severus, and she'd seen Lily with him, she knew that it would've hurt her deeply.

For most of her life, Kelsey had convinced herself that she was no one special—just herself. She was fine with that. She didn't want to be like the popular girls, with guys tripping after them and always asking them out (and then possibly hiding out in broom closests and storage rooms, if you follow that train of thought). She liked having friends—muggle or magical, it didn't matter. Over the past two years, she'd even stopped thinking of Remus as a werewolf. He was just Remus—her friend who happened to turn into a werewolf once a month.

Anyway, she'd always thought Alisha was a beautiful person. She was spunky and kind and hard-working, if not sometimes scary. She knew her friend didn't believe her, but she still saw her that way nonetheless. And to see her friend so down and seemingly so hurt, it hurt Kelsey. The worry was turning her streak a darker yellow color as she tried to focus on her doodles.

_Just until we get to the castle. Things will be alright once we get to Hogwarts. Things always get better after we get off the train._

**;;;;;**_  
><em>

Once the sun was down and the castle lights were in sight, everyone in the compartment began gathering up their trash and pulling out their school robes, putting them on over their clothes.

Alisha had released Albert earlier and knew that he was already at Hogwarts. She grabbed his cage and tucked it under her arm while tugging her trunk off of the rack. "Man, I can't wait to see the sorting," she said with a smile. She got off on remembering how frightening the sorting had been, and admired the little ones experiencing the fear. They had no idea how great it would be afterwards.

"I just can't wait for the food," Sirius stated as his stomach gave a loud growl.

Kelsey, who'd just gotten her robe over her head, gave him an exasperated look. "You ate all that junk food! How can you be starving already?" She patted her own stomach. "I'm only kinda in the mood for mashed potatoes." She gave her stomach an inquisitive poke.

Alisha, who wasn't really at all hungry, had to put her two cents in, since she'd already gathered all of her stuff and couldn't get out till the others headed out. "Yeah, but it's not Subway."

Remus snorted and laughed and Kelsey grinned.

Sirius and James blinked in confusion. "Subway?"

Alisha rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Never mind, you two."

As the five teens filed off of the train, Alisha paused to help a first-year girl with her trunk. The girl looked twitchy and nervous. She heard a booming voice calling for all of the first-years and glanced over her shoulder.

"Don't worry," Alisha said, putting her hand on the first-year's shoulder and leading her along the path to the towering figure holding up a lamp light. She bent down. "That's Hagrid, the grounds-keeper. He's scary-looking, but he's really just a big teddy bear," she said with a smile before sending the first-year off. She then trotted to join the others, who'd caught a carriage that would take them to the school. "Thanks for waiting!" she called as she climbed up and sat down next to Sirius.

Once their carriage pulled up to the front steps of the castle, they all jumped down and headed up the steps. Students were filing around them in a sea of black and loud chatter.

A Slytherin boy with bright green haired trotted up passed them before turning. "HEY, SPINNERS!" he called.

Alisha blinked and glanced up.

"CATCH!"

Alisha gasped as a ball of ice cold water shot from the boy's wand and hit her square in the face. She gasped again and spit out water, gazing at the boy in mild shock.

"Hey, get out of here, you slimy little git!" James snapped.

Sirius had pulled his wand, but the boy had turned and started running away.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR HANGING WITH TYPES!"

Alisha gasped, eyes wide.

"Oh my gosh! Alisha, are you okay?" Kelsey asked frantically.

Alisha wiped at her face and nodded. "Yeah," she said before pulling out her wand and drying off her uniform. She left her hair wet. If she'd dried it, it would have just puffed up and gone poofy.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey spun around, pulling out her wand and glaring at the green-haired boy. "You're gonna pay for that!" she shouted, raising her wand. She was about to put a hex on the boy, when a hand closed around her wrist. She blinked and looked up.

"He's not worth it," Remus advised, lowering her hand that held her wand.

Kelsey looked at Remus for a moment, and considered ignoring his advice. But, deep down, she knew he was right. She exhaled and lowered her wand, then put it away.

"You were going to use a tickling charm on him, weren't you?" Alisha asked.

Kelsey spun to give her a look, her streak turning amber as she blushed. "I was not!"

Alisha laughed and turned to continue on up the steps. "Sure, Kelsey. Sure..."

Kelsey sighed, shot-down, and followed everyone else up the steps.

"...Were you _really_ going to use a tickling charm?" Remus asked curiously.

She blushed again. "Well, uh... I'll admit, it _was_ the first thing that popped into my mind..."

Remus chuckled. "I thought so."

Once inside, the five separated off to sit at their house tables and to join their fellow Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins. The first-years came in shortly after, and were lead up towards the front end of the room—towards the long table where all the professors and other staff members sat. McGonagall brought out a stool and the old, patched Sorting Hat, then unfurled a long scroll of parchment. The first-years were then called forth one and a time to be sorted into their houses. Each house applauded when a new member was added to their table, and the sorting quickly progressed.

Alisha watched with glee, barely holding in her laughter at the totally terrified looks on the students' faces. They were all getting so worked-up about an event that, for most, lasted about ten seconds. Granted, it determined a lot for their seven years at Hogwarts, but still.

Kelsey, unlike Alisha, wasn't really..._laughing_ at the whole thing. She just sat with a little smile on her face, remembering her own sorting experience. She remembered how the Sorting Hat had called her "bright" and "intuitive." Those things alone might've been enough to place her in Ravenclaw, but, for a brief moment, the Sorting Hat considered placing her in Gryffindor because it said she had a "big heart," and was "kind and generous." Kelsey never understood why it'd said that, but it was nice to hear regardless.

Once the sorting finished, Dumbledore stood and made the usual beginning-of-the-year announcements—the Dark Forest was off-limits, don't go near the Whomping Willow (oops), no wandering the halls after hours (also oops), yadda, yadda, yadda, they knew the drill.

After that, Dumbledore announced that the feast would begin, and mountains of food immediately appeared on the tables. The other students chuckled at the awestruck reactions of the first-years, who'd obviously never eaten a Hogwarts feast before. Everyone quickly dove into the food, loading up the plates in front of them and filling their goblets with either pumpkin juice or water. Kelsey always thought that there was too much food for even all of the Hogwarts students to eat, but it always managed to disappear somehow.

The feast ended a bit later, and the Prefects were instructed to show the first-years to the house dormitories. The second- through seventh-years were free to exit the Great Hall at their leisure, and amble up to their dorms at their own pace.

Kelsey, Alisha, Remus, James, and Sirius were leaving the Great Hall when Kelsey heard a whispered incantation somewhere close by. She didn't have time to react, though, and she suddenly felt herself trip over some invisible rope stretched across her path. She put her hands out to catch herself, scraping the heels of her hands and her elbows on the stone floor.

The rest of the group looked down at her in shock.

"Been walking long, Edwards?" A couple Slytherin boys cackled at the comment as they fled from the Great Hall.

"Bugger off, you prats!" Alisha shouted after them, drawing her wand. "Before I turn you both into toads!"

Kelsey looked after them, a few tears forming in her eyes.

Remus fell to his knees next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Kelsey! Are you alright?" he asked, panicking a little.

Kelsey pushed herself up on her knees. "I'm alright." She raised her hands, looking at the blood starting to seep out of the scrapes.

"No, you're not! You're bleeding!" James said.

Remus took her arm and carefully lifted her to her feet. "Come on, we're going to the nurse."

"No, no, I'm fine," Kelsey insisted, trying to smile. "Really, I'll just wash these off, get some bandages, and I'll be good as new." She could already feel bruises forming on her knees as well as her elbows, and did her best to stand upright. She would have no one trying to help her walk.

James, Remus, and Sirius looked at each other, questioning the truth in her words.

Alisha didn't have to question them, and insisted on all of them accompanying Kelsey back to the Ravenclaw dormitory.

"What about taking the first-years to their dorms?" Kelsey asked Remus.

Remus glanced at the new Gryffindors talking to the other Gryffindor prefect. "I'm sure I won't be missed."

It took some more convincing, but Kelsey finally agreed to let them come along.

Kelsey winced a little every time she bent or extended her legs, but continued to insist that she wasn't too badly hurt. And she wasn't. But she was still in pain.

They reached the door to the Ravenclaw common room, and Kelsey answered the riddle the door gave her so that it would open.

"You sure you'll be alright?" Remus asked.

She smiled. "I'm sure. I've had much worse than this, believe me. ...Thank you, though." She gave a slight wave as she stepped through the doorway. "See you all at breakfast!"

They said their scattered "goodnight"s as the door swung closed. The four looked at each other, then turned to walk away.

_What is up with these people?_ Alisha wondered. _Suddenly the bullying's starting to get worse... I mean, yeah, they threw cold water at me, but they actually made Kelsey _bleed! _What is their deal?_

"Remus, if it makes you feel any better," James said, "I'm considering directing those gits to the Shrieking Shack the night of the next full moon."

Remus chuckled and shook his head. "As appealing as that sounds, we'd have to take a more subtle approach."

"Subtlety's never been our strong point," Sirius pointed out.

James grinned. "Then we'll just have to think harder, won't we?"

Whatever it was, Alisha already liked the sound of it. Running with the Marauders _did_ have its perks. Like the rare, genius plans.

;;

Kelsey stood in front of the bathroom mirror in a tank top and shorts—her usual pajamas when it was still hot, as it was in the beginning of September—, her streak a dark grey color. She raised her arms and looked at her elbows. They hadn't been bleeding as bad as her palms, but she put bandages on them anyway. Her knees were only bruised, luckily.

She turned on the faucet and cautiously put her hands under the cold water, biting her tongue so she wouldn't make any noise about the pain. She held them under the water for as long as she could, then turned the faucet off and turned to start (gingerly) drying off her hands.

Footsteps approached outside the door, and her heart skipped a beat.

"You'll have to wait a moment," she heard a girl's voice say—one that she recognized as belonging to a Ravenclaw in her year. "Kelsey's cleaning up in there."

"Kelsey?" an unfamiliar voice asked, probably a first-year's. "Oh, she's that girl that got tripped, right?"

"Yeah," the first girl said.

"But why did they do that?" the first-year wondered aloud. "She was so nice to me during dinner—even told me the fastest way to get to the library."

Kelsey placed the girl's voice now. It wasn't unfamiliar. The girl had sat next to her during dinner.

"Didn't you see?" the other girl asked. "She runs around with a Slytherin girl and James Potter's group. ...I guess you could say there are some kids here who disapprove of that. Think she's not loyal to her house."

"...That's stupid."

"Yeah...it is." And the girls walked away.

Kelsey bit her tongue again, blinking back tears as she pulled out a roll of bandages and started wrapping them around her hands. She quickly ran a brush through her hair, cleaned up the things on the counter, and left the bathroom. She took quick steps across the wood floor over to her bed. Once there, she crawled under the blankets without a word, burying her face in her pillow. Her streak turned darker and darker as she blinked back more tears.

The first night back at Hogwarts, and already things were getting screwed up. And she hadn't forgotten about Alisha. She still wanted to know what had been bothering her earlier on the train.

But, right then...it seemed they had other things to worry about.

**P.S.: The reference to our friend who goes to Beauxbatons is a real friend of ours! She just spent a year in France as an exchange student, so we decided to have her go to Beauxbatons. ^.^ Hope you enjoyed the chapter! More soon!**


	5. Chapter 3, Torment

**Finally a brief moment to do some updating! :) BondSlave and I are (semi-)settled into our apartment, and have gotten into the routine of things around here. We've been working diligently on this story, as well as future concept plot bunnies, and I promise to get better about updating (now that I really have no excuse not to, heh). A rather short chapter, but it's important! More to come soon~!**

**Nizuna: Eep, thanks so much! Sorry it's taken so long to update. But here's a new chapter now!**

**Megan: I KNOW RIGHT? STUPID JERKS! Oh, I feel the same way! Heh, I would definitely choose running with the Marauders over most other HP eras :3 I'M SO GLAD! You're too sweet, my friend! "Plethora"—I love it! haha AHHHH! I'm sorry I'm such a terrible updater on that blog *sad face* But I'm glad you're a fan! BondSlave greatly enjoys your reviews, she says, as do I! haha Thank you so much!**

**Thank you to everyone else who's reading! Enjoy the new chapter!**

**-III. Torment-  
><strong>_**In which Severus takes a stand.**_

Despite the still-warm air outside, the Slytherin dorm was relatively cold. A fire already roared in the grate in an attempt to spread warmth throughout the common room. Alisha would talk to the other girls in her dorm about turning the heaters on in the dorm room early this year.

Alisha had woken up a little later than she would have liked, and had to dress quickly if she wanted to get down to breakfast in time to eat before morning classes started. She threw on a pair of jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt. Over that, she slipped into the grey sweater with her house patch and then pulled the pleated black skirt over her jeans before jamming her feet into her blue converse. No one had ever said she was normal.

Throwing her school robe over her shoulders, she dashed from the girls' dorm and across the common room before a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. She skidded to a stop and looked up, startled.

Severus had been leaning against the wall and was looking at her quite seriously. She did her best not to blush, but that didn't stop her heart from speeding up.

"I heard what happened last night," he said quietly.

Alisha blinked.

"Malfoy told me. He found it rather funny."

She really did blush this time, but more in shame. Malfoy didn't like her. He wouldn't personally make her miserable, but it was no secret that he thought she was in the wrong house. A lot of Slytherins believed this.

"I didn't think it was funny," Severus stated, causing her to start and looked up at him in surprise. His brows were furrowed and he looked very displeased. He released her wrist and pushed away from the wall, passing behind her. "You are a Slytherin. Despite your unorthodox ways of going on about your schooling, you belong to this house and you should be treated with respect," he stated as he headed off towards the boys' dorm.

Alisha watched him go and blinked when he paused.

"That boy won't be bothering you again," he stated. "I made sure of that." And then he was gone.

Alisha's stomach did a little flip-flop, and a huge grin spread across her face before she dashed out of the common room.

;;

Kelsey bounced on her seat in the Great Hall, looking up every five seconds while nibbling on a piece of toast.

Sirius, who was just getting up to leave, walked over to her. "Edwards, relax. Why are you so jumpy this morning?" he asked as he brushed crumbs from his robes.

Kelsey set her toast down and looked up at him. She couldn't remember when she'd hated him. Hated James— Okay, she still thought James was a jerk, but things had changed. Two years ago, they all couldn't stand each other, and now they were friends. It was odd, in some...well, odd way.

"Alisha hasn't come to breakfast. I'm worried about her. What if the Slytherins did something horrible to her?"

Sirius snorted. "Despite not liking her, I doubt they'd do that. There are a few Slytherins who would prevent that. Maybe not openly, but they wouldn't let one of their own get abused." He cracked his knuckles. "In fact, I had a lengthy talk with my brother last night and warned him that, if anything happened to her, I'd take it out on him," he said with a grin before patting Kelsey on the head and walking out.

He made it to the door just as Alisha ran in. He spun around the girl and pointed at her, shooting a grin over her head to Kelsey before exiting.

Alisha trotted over to Kelsey's table and just stole a piece of toast. She wouldn't have much time for anything else.

**;;;;;**

"Hey, wait!" Kelsey said quickly as Alisha turned to run out of the Great Hall. Something was different about her that morning. She looked more cheerful. She had a little spring in her step.

"I'm gonna be late for class!" Alisha said, her tone frantic but a smile still stuck on her face.

"I know, just hang on," Kelsey said, getting up off the bench and grabbing up her things. "You okay?"

"I'm great!" Alisha said happily. Her smile fell a little when she looked down at the bandages wrapped around Kelsey's hands. "How're you feeling?"

"Hmm?" Kelsey followed Alisha's gaze. "Oh, these? I hardly even feel them anymore. I'm alright, I promise."

Alisha looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, then. Let's get to class before we're late."

The two girls rushed towards the doors, not really looking where they were going. Kelsey bumped into someone, dropping her books. She looked up to see that it was the green-haired boy from the night before.

The boy's annoyed look quickly turned to one of fear. He fell to his knees, scooped up the fallen books, pushed them into Kelsey hands, and ran away.

Kelsey stared after him, eyes-wide. "What the flying hippogriff was that about?"

Alisha grinned. "I think I know..."

"What?" Kelsey asked.

Alisha shook her head. "Come on, we'll be late!" And took off for her first class.

Kelsey shrugged a little, and rushed off to her own class, wondering if there was a certain boy that had had anything to do with Alisha's improved mood.

;;

The rest of the morning passed peacefully. Lunch rolled around, and Kelsey decided to spend the hour reading instead of going to the Great Hall. She wasn't feeling all that hungry anyway. Though she did poke her head into the Great Hall for a moment to see if she could find Alisha. When she didn't see her, she figured that she'd opted out of eating lunch as well.

She was walking down a corridor, and didn't even bother to look up when she heard a few sets of footsteps approaching quickly behind her. That is, until a shoulder connected roughly with hers and she found herself being shoved into the wall. She kept her footing, and looked at the Slytherin boys who'd pushed her in her mild surprise.

"Get back to the library, bookworm!" one shouted, which was greeted by laughter from his cohorts.

Kelsey shook her head and walked away, trying to remind herself that they were idiots and ought not be taken seriously. It still stung, though. Among her friends, she took pride in being a bookworm and that she spent ample time in the library. But, coming from others, it was just...insulting.

She found a quiet place outside to read and sat down on a bench, opening her book on her lap. She blinked away tears as she tried to focus on the words before her, her streak turning a pale yellow. She was not inexperienced with bullying. As any other student, she'd seen her fair share. But bullying at a wizard school was almost worse than muggle school. All muggles could do was fling cruel words at you, or maybe trip you. The worst they could do was physically attack you. Wizards and witches could do all that and more. They could put hexes and jinxes on you, pull you up into the air and make you throw up slugs or even catch on fire.

A couple girls—both Slytherins—walked by, giggling to each other, then looked up as they passed Kelsey. One girl smirked. "My, I wonder what happened to her hands," she said, feigning concern.

"Looks pretty bad," the other girl said, matching the first girl's tone. "Maybe a spell backfired."

"That'd be just like her," the first girl mocked. "Everyone knows she's too dumb to be in Ravenclaw."

"Yeah, especially since she's started hanging out with those dumb Gryffindor boys."

"That must be so trying for them—putting up with a _genius_ like her every day. Even _they're_ smarter than her!"

"Pity she can't find any friends in her own house."

"Or any _real_ friends at all!"

Kelsey bent her head lower as they cackled and walked away. She choked back a sob and blinked furiously, wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. Having low self-esteem about her intelligence did nothing to even try to repel the girls' hurtful words. A few tears rolled down her face and dripped onto the pages of her book.

;;

"Hey, Edwards!" James called. Then he and Remus hesitated, noticing that Kelsey's streak was growing lighter and lighter—heading toward white. They couldn't see her face very well, as her hair hid most of it, but she didn't look happy. They looked at each other for a moment, then Remus gave a slight nod, and they started forward again. "Edwards," James repeated.

Kelsey started and quickly wiped at her eyes as James and Remus approached. "Oh, hey, guys," she said, trying to sound cheerful.

James and Remus weren't buying it. James reached a hand forward and gently tugged on her streak—his way of showing concern for her.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked.

Kelsey shook her head and mustered up a smile. "Nothing's wrong! Really, I'm fine."

Remus started looking around. "Did someone hex you again?"

"No, no, it's nothing," she insisted. "I'm fine."

"Hey, Edwards!" a boy shouted. "_Levicorpus!_"

Kelsey yelped, and suddenly found herself being scooped up into the air, and held there upside-down. She held her skirt down against her legs with both hands as other students started gathering around, her streak flickering from amber to a tan-gold to grey and then back again. She was too scared to reach for her wand. She hated heights, no matter how short they were. Not to mention that she was _upside-down_ and being held there by some kid with a wand. Yeah, _that_ put her at ease.

"Hey! Put her down!" Remus ordered, shouting at the Slytherin boy. He was ready to play the prefect card if he had to.

"Why?" the blonde boy asked, grinning. "Don't you enjoy seeing your little friend like this?"

James drew his own wand and took a step towards the boy. "Put her down, you prat," he spat.

The boy scoffed, clearly annoyed by James and Remus trying to order him around. (Even though Remus, technically, had the authority.) "You want her down? Fine." He flicked the tip of his wand off in some direction, flinging Kelsey through the air towards a fountain in the courtyard.

Before she hit either the stone of the fountain or the cold water in the foutain, she heard James shout, "_Arresto Momentum!_"

Her descent slowed, as if the gravity around her had suddenly been weakened. Remus jogged over towards the fountain, and James directed Kelsey's descent down towards him. She landed softly in Remus' arms, and she just let herself go limp for a few seconds, getting her bearings.

"You alright, Edwards?" James called.

Kelsey nodded and her streak turned a pale teal.

"Yeah, she's okay," Remus answered. He set her down after a moment, keeping an arm around her shoulders to keep her steady. He glared at the Slytherin boy and drew his wand. "You leave her alone, you hear me?" he shouted.

The boy grinned. "Ooh, I'm really scared now!"

"You should be," James said, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

Remus raised his want to retaliate against the boy, but a gentle hand rested on his arm, and he stopped.

Kelsey shook her head. "Remember? He's not worth it."

Remus exhaled heavily, lowering his arm. "Right."

James looked at the onlookers that had gathered. "What're you lot gawking at? Bugger off! Show's over!" And the students quickly scurried away.

"You sure you're alright?" Remus asked.

Kelsey nodded. "Thanks to you two, yes." She looked at the fountain behind her. "That could've ended quite badly."

"Do you need to go to the nurse or anything?"

"No, I'm not hurt," she said. "But thank you both."

They looked up when a distant bell started ringing, signaling that lunch hour was over and it was time to go back to class.

Kelsey stepped away from Remus, walked past James, and over to the bench she'd been sitting on to pick up her things.

"Maybe we should go with you to your next class," James suggested.

Kelsey smiled. "I think I can handle myself," she assured. "Besides, with the professors watching, I don't think they'd try anything. Right?"

James and Remus were about to answer that they'd gotten away with many things while professors had been watching, but then felt that that probably wasn't the best response to make right then. "Right..." they said instead.

She smiled and nodded. "Thank you both again." She waved. "See you at dinner!" And she skipped away, off to her next class.

Remus sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"You alright, mate?" James asked. "You look pale."

"I'm fine," Remus answered. He nodded after Kelsey. "It's her I'm worried about—her and Alisha." He looked at his fellow Marauder seriously. "We've gotta do something about this before it gets worse."

"What if it doesn't get worse?" James asked. "I mean, so far, no one's been seriously injured."

"We can't just let this continue, James," Remus snapped.

James exhaled and nodded. "Right then. What do you suggest we do?"

Remus thought for a moment. "Let me think on that. I'll let you know." And he walked away, musing over various plans in his mind. (Though he thought transporting the bullies to Antarcitca via portkey might've been just a tad_ too_ much.)

James followed after curiously, wondering just what sort of plot his genius friend was going to come up with. Remus may have been the one to not get involved most of the time, but, really, he was the originator of many of the Marauders' most infamous and brilliant plans. He couldn't wait to see what Moony would think up.

;;

Over the next month or so, the bullying got worse, as Remus had predicted. The tormentors had lowered themselves to hexing the girls ill and damaging and stealing their belongings. But the Marauders hadn't given up. No, they were hard at work on a plan that they hoped would stop the other students' cruelty for a while, if not for good.

**;;;;;**

Snape exited the library, walking automatically forward while struggling to shove his notebook and parchment into his bag. He jumped, dropping his notebook and parchment when he bumped into someone. He blinked and turned as the person trotted past, shooting out and grabbing the other person by the elbow. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked seriously.

His frown deepened as Alisha turned and looked up at him. Her mascara was smeared, her lips puffy, and tears rolling down her cheeks.

"What's happened?" he asked.

"Oh God, Severus, it's Kelsey!" she said as she wiped at her face and sniffed loudly. "Avery cursed her and, oh God, I don't know what happened," she said as she sobbed openly. "She started bleeding really badly. She had to be rushed to the infirmary!"

Snape's eyes widened and he squeezed her shoulder. "Hey, hey, calm down," he said. He glanced over her head and spotted someone who could help him. "Lily! Hey, come here."

The red-haired Gryffindor trotted over, concern entering her face when she saw how upset the Slytherin girl was. "What's wrong?"

"Kelsey's been hurt," Snape said. "Could you escort Alisha to the infirmary?"

Lily nodded and took Alisha's hand. "Oh, yes, of course. Come on, hun," Lily said before leading the sobbing girl out of the hall. Severus snarled and snatched up his stuff before marching out of the hall.

;;

Severus entered the Slytherin common room and threw his things on the leather sofa next to the Lucius, who was reading something. The blonde looked up and cocked an eyebrow. "On a mission?" he asked.

Snape snarled and and pulled out his wand. "Yes. Where's Avery?"

Lucius closed his book and clasped his hands together. "Oh, oh? Has dear Avery done something to piss you off?"

"Just tell me where he is, Lucius!"

The blonde put up his hands and nodded. "Alright. If I'm not mistaken, he's heading down to the third floor to meet some floozy."

Severus nodded and, with a quick turn of the heel, walked quickly from the room, school robes billowing behind him.

;;

Sirius was glaring out of the window, his long black hair framing his face and accenting the harsh features of his scowl. He glanced down at the bed beside him and his eyes narrowed before he glared back out of the window.

Remus and Alisha were sitting on either side of the bed. Lily stood beside Alisha, offering comfort by squeezing her shoulder. James was leaning against the end of the bed, his knees aching since he'd been kneeling on the hard floor for awhile. Peter had left a while ago without a word.

Remus looked over at James. "Now do you believe me? I told you it would just get worse," he stated.

James offered an apologetic, ashamed look.

The werewolf glanced up at Alisha. "What happened?"

Alisha sniffed and rubbed at her sore eyes. She shook her head. "I don't know. Lucinda was with her…another girl in Ravenclaw. She said that Avery cursed her," she said with a soft sob.

Lily squeezed her shoulders. "I don't understand why they're targeting you two like this. I mean…" She looked between the boys. "I'm a Gryffindor and I hang out with Severus."

Remus shot both Sirius and James a glare to keep them from making any comments before Lily continued.

"I mean, sure, sometimes I get a snide comment here or there, and we all know what the dunderhead over here thinks about it, but I've never been physically hurt."

James grumbled something, but didn't say anything.

Alisha shook her head. "I don't know. I just can't believe this. Kelsey could have died!"

Sirius sighed and looked back as Alisha broke down again.

;;

Avery entered the third floor corridor and sauntered his way along the alcoves. A hand shot out and grabbed him by the collar, slamming him against the wall. He yelped and was about to spout some profanity when he paled as a wand tip was thrust in his face.

"S-S-Sev—"

"Shut up!" Severus snarled, dark eyes sparkling dangerously. He bared his teeth and tightened his grip. "You hurt a girl today using my spell!" He jerked the boy and slammed him against the wall again. "How dare you! You will cease to use my spells for your own sick, twisted fun."

"Oh, and so you can use them?"

Snape whipped his wand and a bright, light-like whip flipped out and slapped the other across the face, causing him to gasp in pain. "I told you to shut up! You will listen to me! You hurt a girl named Kelsey Edwards. You will not hurt her! And you'd better pass on the message that she's not to be bothered!"

"Why would you care about that stupid little Ravenclaw hoe?"

Severus released the boy and whipped his wand, wordlessly jinxing the other, whose limbs locked up and he fell over onto his side.

Severus kicked him onto his back and pressed his foot down against the other's chest, wand pointing down at his face. "I don't! She means nothing to me, but you and your little gang have been harassing Spinners as well and, if you haven't noticed, she's a Slytherin, so you'd better treat her like one! You leave her and Edwards alone. You tell your gang that if they even so much as look at those two the wrong way, they will have to deal with me. And in case you've forgotten, I run with some powerful people."

He stepped off of the other teen and turned, putting his wand away. He paused and glanced back over at the immobilized boy. "Let's hope someone finds you before nightfall. Otherwise Peeves might just tell a teacher on you. Wouldn't want that, would we? You'll be lucky if you're not expelled." He grinned. "Let's hope Edwards' family doesn't press charges."


	6. Chapter 4, Healing

**FEAR NOT! Neither of us are dead! We are very much alive and well, thankfully. I'm terribly sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Now Thanksgiving Break is upon us (*cough*andmybirthday*cough*), and I haven't even uploaded the Halloween chapter yet! , as a reward for your patience, two new chapters (including the Halloween chapter)! Enjoy, loverly readers~ :)**

**Ninuza: Thank you so much! :D**

**Secrettheshadow: I hope she can too... Even BondSlave and I aren't positive yet of how that will happen! Thank you so much :) We hope you like these new chapters**

**!Frocobo: Eep, thank you! I've missed you as well! I know, right? Meanie-heads! xP haha Hope you like these chapters! Can't wait to see what you think of them. :3**

**MEGAN!: You are perfectly welcome to get overexcited, my dear! Severus is totally BA, definitely! LOOK OUT AVERY! MWAHAHA! xD Eeep, you are awesome, my dear! But I know—the bullying! So depressing :( Good thing Severus and the Marauders are there lookin' out for 'em! "Fabulous"? Oh, goodness, thank you! *blush* haha I KNOW! The awful thing is, as I was reading that whole part (I had no idea it was going to be in the story—BondSlave wrote it), I was giggling like a crazy person. Isn't that terrible? ! I almost died and I was LAUGHING. Oy, leave it to me... xD Yay, Severus! haha Hope you like these chapters as well, dear! Thank you so much!**

**Without further ado...**

**-IV. Healing-  
><strong>_**In which a surprise is given.**_

Kelsey awoke to the sound of Alisha's sobbing; Lily's soft comforting; and James, Sirius, and Remus' quiet talking next to her. She could feel bandages covering little slices of pain all over her body, and was afraid to move—afraid that any movement would cause her to start bleeding again.

She turned her head slightly, bleary eyes trying to focus on her friends. "What happened?" she breathed.

Alisha started with a sob and grabbed her friend's hand in hers.

"Ow," Kelsey winced.

"Sorry," Alisha said, quickly loosening her grip.

Kelsey took a shaky breath. "What happened?" she repeated.

"Avery cursed you," Alisha gasped, trying to stop crying.

"A-very?" Kelsey breathed. "When..." Now she remembered. She'd been talking to Lucinda about an assignment for Defense Against the Dark Arts when Avery had come running around the corner. She couldn't remember what insult he'd delivered, but she remembered him speak some curse she didn't recognize. All she remembered after that was excruciating pain, pools of blood, and gagging and gasping for breath. She couldn't remember if she herself had screamed before she'd passed out, but she knew that Lucinda had. She figured that Lucinda's screaming must've brought everyone running, and that she'd been brought to the infirmary for treatment.

"How long...have I been out?"

"About an hour," Remus answered, his voice soft.

"Where's Avery?"

"Don't worry about him," he said, gently resting a scarred hand on her bandaged one.

"I-Is Lucinda alright?"

"She's fine," Sirius said. "A little shaken-up, that's all."

Remus looked back at Kelsey. "Do you have...any idea what he used on you?"

Kelsey swallowed, thinking. "No," she said. "I didn't recognize the incantation, and I don't remember what it was. I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's okay," he said.

James exhaled quietly, twirling his wand between his fingers. "I don't think any of us predicted it would get this bad," he said quietly.

"What d'you think?" Sirius asked.

James stopped twirling his wand and held it in his hand. "I think it's time we make a move."

"Make a move?" Alisha asked, her sobs now quieted some.

"What do you mean?" Kelsey asked.

"What're you idiots planning now?" Lily asked, folding her arms over her chest.

James smiled and gently ruffled Kelsey's hair. "Don't you worry your pretty little heads about it. Just leave it to the Marauders, eh?"

Kelsey weakly raised an eyebrow.

"What?" James asked, offended. "You don't trust us, Edwards?"

"Not since Sirius considered...cross-dressing to be a way to fool the...the stairs to the girls' dorms."

Remus and James rolled their eyes, and Sirius just grinned.

"Well, it will certainly be a better plan than that one, I assure you," James said.

"We'll believe it when we see it," Alisha said.

"And see it you shall," James said, "at the opportune moment!"

"I don't like the sound of that," Kelsey said.

Remus laughed softly. "Believe me, he's usually more prepared than he seems."

"'Usually'? !" James snapped. "Just what do you mean by that, Remus?"

"Nothing," Remus said with an innocent smile. "Just go on about your plotting."

"I will!" James replied, as if Remus had challenged him. He spun around and scuffled away, twirling his wand between his fingers again.

Sirius gently ruffled Kelsey's hair as well, then went after James, waving and saying, "See ya!"

Lily looked down at the watch on her wrist. "I've gotta get to class," she said. She looked at Alisha. "You'll be okay now?"

Alisha nodded and smiled. "Thanks, Lily."

"No problem," she replied with a smile. She gave a half-wave. "Feel better, Kelsey."

"Thanks," Kelsey said with a smile.

Remus sighed. "I suppose I'd better go after James and Sirius. Just to make sure they don't blow themselves up or something."

Kelsey and Alisha laughed. "That would be just like them," Alisha said.

Remus smiled and stood from the bed. "I'll come by and see you later, okay?"

"Okay," Kelsey said. She squeezed his hand weakly. "Thank you."

He gently squeezed her hand back. "Of course." He nodded at Alisha. "See you later."

"See you," Alisha replied.

Kelsey laughed softly as Remus left the room. "Next to Remus, I must hold the record for most trips to the infirmary, eh?"

"Either you or me," Alisha replied. "Maybe both of us."

They both laughed quietly.

Kelsey sighed a little and looked up at Alisha. "Do you think it'll work?"

"What?" Alisha asked.

"Whatever plan those loons are cooking up."

Alisha laughed softly and smiled. "If I know our Marauders...it'll probably be something really stupid, but, as always, it will all work out in the end."

Kelsey smiled, feeling more at ease. "Right."

Alisha smiled back. "You should get some rest, okay?"

"Okay. You'll stay here?"

"Of course. Like I'm going to leave you here by yourself." She grinned. "The nurse will have to drag me out of here if she wants me gone."

Kelsey laughed softly. "Thanks, Alisha."

"No need to thank me."

Kelsey carefully turned her head and closed her eyes, trying her best to push away the pain still coursing through her body and to sleep.

Alisha looked down at Kelsey for a few moments, then moved to sit on the bed next to hers. She sighed heavily, grateful that she was still alive and not in _too_ much pain. But her inner Slytherin was not satisfied. Same house or no, she wanted to personally take out every student who had done harm to Kelsey. Not that Kelsey was particularly weak or defenseless, but...she made a rather easy target. And the idea that someone could even think of targeting someone like her made Alisha sick.

She smiled a little, though, when she recalled the way had Remus reacted when he'd heard that Kelsey had been so badly hurt—the way he always seemed to react when something happened to her. He immediately turned protective, ready to take on any foe that dared hurt her. (Must've been the wolf inside of him.) Not that she liked seeing anyone sad or in pain, but...it was so obvious that he cared about Kelsey. All of them did.

In their third year, they'd thought the Marauders to be jerks and bullies. But...they really did care about Kelsey, and about Alisha. Some of them just didn't really know how to show it.

Alisha sat on the bed and thought and thought, wondering what sort of scheme the Marauders were going to come up with to stop the bullying. She hoped that they'd come up with something soon before one of them got even more badly injured—or even killed.

;;

Remus returned to the infirmary some hours later, just as the sun was beginning to set. Alisha was still awake, and Kelsey had woken up again since he'd left.

"How're you feeling?" Remus asked.

"A little better," Kelsey replied. "Really...achy, you know?"

"I can imagine."

She eyed the hardcover book under his arm. "What do you have there, Remus?"

Remus blushed a little and looked down at the book. "Well, um... I figured, you know, since you can't really move to read on your own just yet that I'd..." He blushed more. He swallowed. "...read to you."

Kelsey's streak turned amber, and she smiled. "I-I'd really like that."

Alisha smiled and shook her head as Remus' face lit up and he pulled a chair over and sat down. She listened as intently as Kelsey, both of them laughing at Remus affecting different voices for the different characters and his sometimes over-acting of the dialogue. Alisha wondered if this was how he always read aloud, or if he was doing it to make Kelsey laugh. Either way, she was happy with his performance.

Remus read for quite a while, long after his voice had started to grow tired, Alisha was sure, and long after the sun had set. Kelsey fell asleep again shortly after he'd finished reading. And, by that time, the nurse came around, telling Alisha and Remus that they would have to leave. Remus stood and quietly reasoned with the nurse, giving good reason after good reason for them to stay with Kelsey. The nurse finally conceded, either because she was tired or because she knew Remus was right, and let the two stay.

Remus fell asleep in the chair he'd been sitting in, and Alisha curled up in the bed she'd been sitting on. She faced away from Kelsey, trying to get some sleep.

Some time later, she heard footsteps approaching, and quickly tried to shallow her breathing, making it sound like she was asleep. The footsteps were determined, yet soft, as if they belonged to someone who was afraid of getting caught. Her brow furrowed when she heard someone murmuring an incantation—one that almost sounded like a song. She tensed up, slowly drawing her wand. Was it another student trying to attack Kelsey?

The third time the incantation was muttered, she realized that she recognized the voice. _Severus?_

The footsteps quickly moved away, fading fast from the room.

Alisha sat up and looked around. She, Remus, and Kelsey were once again alone. She exhaled, disappointed. Then she did a double-take when she looked at Kelsey. She slid from the bed and walked to Kelsey's side. Her eyes widened. She trailed her eyes up and down Kelsey's arms, looking at the bandages that covered them and the ones around her neck and on her face. The bandages were no longer red, stained with blood. Now they were white, as if they were new.

Alisha desperately wanted to wake her to ask if she was alright, if she was feeling better, but decided she would have to wait until morning. She then wanted to go to the nurse to ask for some dittany to give Kelsey to prevent scarring, but then remembered that Remus had already suggested it to the nurse earlier. In her sleepiness, she'd forgetten that she'd even been there when Remus had suggested the remedy.

She sighed heavily and laid back down, her mind whirling once again. Had it been Severus? If so, what sort of magic had he done on Kelsey?

...And just how did he know how to do it?

**;;;;;**

Severus sat in the Slytherin common room. It had been two days since Alisha had been to class and, despite Lily assuring him that she was alright, he couldn't help but worry. He didn't think Avery would take his threat lightly, but he alone only had so much pull in the Slytherin house.

It was late and he sat on the leather sofa near the fire, resting his cheek on his hand. He was tired. He'd been sitting up late every night waiting to see if Alisha would return to the dorm. He knew she'd return in the mornings to get a change of clothes or to bathe, but she hadn't returned to sleep. He knew he'd almost been caught when he'd snuck into the infirmary two nights ago. He hadn't finished healing Kelsey's injuries, but he'd managed to heal some of the larger lacerations.

"Severus, Severus, Severus." Severus glanced up as Lucius walked around the sofa and faced him, his arms crossed and a knowing glint in his eye. He was in his pajamas and had no doubt gotten up to get a drink or use the loo. "Do you plan to sit up like some lost puppy till that Spinners girl returns?"

Snape shot the other a glare, but it lacked luster due to the fact that, a moment later, he yawned widely.

Lucius rolled his eyes and sat down next to the younger boy. He wrapped an arm around the other's narrow shoulders and shook him lightly. "Staying up won't bring her back any sooner. You'll just make yourself hopelessly usless if you don't get sleep."

"I can't believe Avery did that."

"I realize that you're defending that Kelsey girl. She's not one of us, Severus. She doesn't deserve your attention."

"I don't care about her," Severus stated matter-of-factly. "But she is a friend of Alisha's and—"

"Aaaah, I see. You offer your protection to the little Ravenclaw on behalf of Spinners. I see. Do you…like her?"

"What? No," Snape said, frowning at the blonde before shrugging his shoulders a bit. "No. Nothing like that. It's just, she's a good friend, not that I can say the same. She's a Slytherin, Lucius. She ought to be treated like one." He looked up at the blonde. "You keep Lily from being targeted. Please. I need your help..." Severus suddenly looked distraught. "I know it's asking a lot and I know you think it's a waste of resources, but I'll do anything you want if you just help me out. I don't know how Avery found out about that curse, but please. Don't let anyone else use it. It's dangerous."

Lucius' smiled twistedly at the younger boy and squeezed him a little tighter before leaning in slightly. "Of course. Anything for you, Severus," he said before patting the other's shoulder and standing. "Get some sleep. You look terrible," he said as he left the common room.

Severus sighed and sank in his seat. Asking Lucius for help…again…was like making a deal with the devil. He knew he'd eventually have to pay the price—whatever that would be. He just hoped it wouldn't be too horrible.

;;

Alisha had resigned herself to attend classes. She was already two days behind in all of her studies, and knew she could only get so far behind before failing every single class. She attended the classes and took the notes from Remus and a few other people she shared classes with. She'd get all of her homework done during the night, she decided. But once classes were over, she hurriedly made her way to the infirmary.

"Hey," she called as she walked in to find Kelsey sitting up and nibbling on some late lunch foods.

"Hey," Kelsey greeted back with a smile.

Alisha took the seat next to the bed, snatching one of Kelsey's celery sticks with peanut butter and munching on it. "How are you today?"

"Same as when you left," Kelsey assured with a slight laugh. Her friend could be such a worry-wart sometimes. Between her and Remus, Kelsey had a feeling she'd never feel un-babied or unloved. "Madam Pompfry said I should be able to return to class come Monday."

"Do you think she'll let you come to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Alisha asked curiously.

**;;;;;**

Well, Kelsey wasn't about to let a trip to Hogsmeade pass her by. Especially because she knew that, if she were to stay behind in the infirmary, Alisha and/or Remus and possibly James and Sirius and Peter would insist on staying with her. The last thing she wanted to do was spoil their fun.

Oddly enough, though, after the first night, she'd felt strangely better. The nurse, too, had noticed that a lot of the larger wounds had closed up. Kelsey started to wonder if her Metamorphmagic abilities applied to healing. But that sort of thinking was just silly. Of course they didn't.

Anyway, during her four days and nights in the infirmary, she was never left alone for more than an hour at a time. Alisha and/or the Marauders would come to visit her between classes and after meals. They'd keep her company, bring her notes from the classes she'd missed, and (in Remus' case) help her catch up on her assignments. Luckily, she was good at retaining information and managed not to lose too many points during her absence.

Kelsey didn't mind the constant company—in fact, she wanted more of it. She didn't care if James and Sirius just enchanted origami cranes to periodically peck at her or if Alisha ended up chasing James out of the infirmary for something stupid he'd said. No, it was that time she spent alone that she dreaded. Kelsey had a reclusive nature, it was true, but even recluses hated to be alone sometimes. For Kelsey, it was whenever she had to go to the doctor's or the hospital. (Not that she'd had very many trips to the hospital, but still...) Maybe she felt that way because of her overprotective mother, who never wanted to leave her side—especially when a doctor was involved—but...she felt more at ease with friends there. Maybe she secretly feared that she would be left alone in the infirmary for days and people would start to forget about her. Or maybe she just had an overactive imagination and just didn't want to be alone because she was afraid of what had happened to her.

Afraid or not, Kelsey was determined to be well enough to go to Hogsmeade. She'd already gotten her permission form back from her parents, accompanied by a message hoping that she would have fun. (Kelsey had told her parents nothing about the curse. The last thing she wanted was her mother storming the gates of Hogwarts, demanding to see her daughter. Maybe she would tell them someday, but, for now, she knew it was better to keep them in the dark.) Now, all she had to do was convince the nurse that she was well enough to go. Piece of cake.

;;

On Friday, the day before they were to leave for Hogsmeade, Kelsey was walking on her own around the infirmary, easily making it to the lavatory and back without assisstance. Remus and Alisha still shadowed her, though, nervous that she would fall over any second (either that or run into a wall or a chair or some other dangerous object) and cause more harm to herself.

"You're certainly looking better today," the nurse commented as she removed the majority of Kelsey's bandages. The dittany had served her well, leaving only some faint scratches on her arms and a few on her legs. Now she looked like she'd been attacked by a four-week-old kitten instead of with a curse.

Kelsey smiled, hopeful that that meant she could go to Hogsmeade the next morning.

The nurse smiled at the silent question in her eyes. "Oh, alright," she said. "You can go back and sleep in your own bed tonight, and I give you full permission to go on the trip."

Kelsey actually jumped up off the bed, smiling widely. "Yay! Thank you!" she said, spinning around. She smiled excitedly at her friends, who smiled back just as excitedly.

Kelsey got her clothes back, which had been thoroughly cleaned and repaired, leaving behind no trace of the curse. Then the group proudly strode down the corridors toward the Great Hall for dinner, as if they were showing their newly-healed friend off. Perhaps it was sort of a slap-in-the-face—showing that the enemy may have wounded her, but that she was still standing on her feet.

Her fellow Ravenclaws greeted her with pats on the back and smiles of welcome-back, and Lucinda even flung herself at Kelsey in a tearful hug. Alisha knew there were times when Kelsey's being sorted into Ravenclaw was questioned. But when she saw the way they smiled at her and welcomed her back with open arms, she was sure that her friend was indeed in the proper house, just as they all were. They were all where they belonged.

;;

After dinner, Kelsey, Alisha, and the Marauders all started back toward the Ravenclaw dormitory.

Kelsey stretched her arms above her head. "Finally get to sleep in my own bed... I tell you, those mattresses in the infirmary leave a _lot_ to be desired."

"You're telling me," Remus said, shaking his head.

"Oh, yeah," James said, "you'd know all about her pain because of your furry little problem."

The group laughed, and Remus rolled his eyes, smiling. "Yes, James," he said. "Because of that_._"

Alisha slung an arm around Kelsey's neck. "I am so excited for Hogsmeade tomorrow!"

"Me too," Kelsey said, smiling. "And I'm so glad that I get to go!"

"You're really feeling better?" Sirius asked.

Kelsey nodded with a cheerful, "Mm-hmm! Never better."

They looked up when they reached the Ravenclaw dorms.

Kelsey smiled at all of them. "I just... I wanna thank you guys for everything you've done over the past week. It really means a lot to me."

James grinned. "Think nothing of it, Edwards. It's much easier to pester you when you can't move."

Kelsey grinned back and hugged him, which shocked James. Sirius was equally shocked when Kelsey hugged him as well. Kelsey was a huggy person; they should've seen it coming. Alisha wasn't surprised at all, and hugged her friend back as tightly as she dared. Kelsey then smiled and hugged Remus tightly, her streak turning a sapphire blue. He blushed and hugged her back.

James, Sirius, and Alisha waited in the somewhat awkward silence as Kelsey and Remus just stood there, holding onto each other. James looked at an imaginary watch on his wrist, Sirius suddenly became fascinated with the paintings on the wall, and Alisha began closely inspecting her fingernails. After a full minute or so, James finally cleared his throat with an, "Ahem."

Kelsey and Remus started, jumping apart and blushing (Kelsey's streak turning amber as well).

"I, uh, sorry," Remus stuttered.

"It's okay," Kelsey replied, sounding a little breathless.

Sirius grinned and put an arm around Remus' neck. "Now, we'd best be getting off to bed, hadn't we, Remie? Wouldn't want anyone to to try and take advantage of our girls, would we?"

Remus blushed again and shot him a look.

James laughed. "C'mon, guys. Let's go." He nodded to the girls. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Alisha replied as Sirius followed after James, steering Remus away.

Alisha folded her arms over her chest and raised a mischevious eyebrow at Kelsey.

Kelsey blushed a little. "What?" She shook her head.

"Nothing. Now get on inside before we get in trouble."

Kelsey nodded, still skeptical of her friend's "nothing". "See you in the morning."

"Bright and early for Hogsmeade!" Alisha sang, wiggling.

She skipped away happily. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight," Kelsey replied, then turned to go into the common room.

Alisha skipped all the way back to the Slytherin dorms, where she spoke the password and went inside. She hummed to herself as she crossed through the empty common room. Or, at least, she thought it was empty.

"You're back."

She started, trying not to yelp in surprise. She swallowed. "Severus."

He was sitting on the leather sofa in front of the fire, looking up at her tiredly.

"You look dead," she commented.

"Thanks," he said dryly.

"No, I mean, really tired," she said quickly.

"Is everything alright?"

A moment of silence.

"Yes," he said. "Everything's alright." He stood and walked away from the fire, heading in the direction of the boys' dorm.

Alisha looked after him, watching him ascend the stairs.

He stopped halfway up and looked down. "I..."

Alisha looked at him.

"I'm...glad you're back." And he swept up to his room without another word.

Alisha blinked in surprise for a few moments, then let herself smile widely, resting against the back of the sofa. She laughed softly, shaking her head. _Yes. Everything's alright._

**;;;;;**

Early the next morning, bundled up in sweaters, scarves, and gloves, all students ranging from third-years to seventh-years gathered outside the castle in the courtyard. Professor McGonagall and Mr. Filch stood outside, calling names and checking permission slips. Alisha and the boys stood off to the side. They'd all already given their permission slips and were merely waiting for Kelsey. They hadn't even seen the girl that morning yet.

James tapped Remus' shoulder. "Come on, mate, let's go! We're burning daylight."

Remus short him a glare. "It's eight a.m., James."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Come on, he's right, Remus. Kelsey can catch up with us."

Alisha gaped at them. "I can't believe you two. Are you really that desperate?"

"Yes," Sirius said matter-of-factly before snatching her by the wrist and dragging her off towards the path that would take them to Hogsmeade, James doing the same to Remus.

Alisha looked back, panicky. "SEVERUS! HEY, SEVERUS!" she called, waving at the boy who had just walked away from the crowd, obviously headed to Hogsmeade himself. "COULD YOU WAIT FOR KELSEY? ! PLEASE! TELL HER I WAS—EEP—DRAGGED OFF!" she yelled as she was dragged out of sight.

Severus paused and sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. He turned back around and stuffed his hands in his sweater pockets. He was dressed in a pair of nearly-black jeans, black and white converse and a gray, black, and green hooded sweater. He grumbled to himself as students walked around him and headed to Hogsmeade. Great. That's all he needed.

;;

Kelsey rushed out of the castle just as McGonagall turned to go back in. "Am I too late? !" she asked, eyes wide, a slight look of horror on her face.

The tall, willowy witch looked down at her with a cocked brow before smiling slightly. "Almost, Miss Edwards. Give your permission slip to Mr. Filch," she said before walking past the Ravenclaw girl, who whooped and handed Filch her slip.

Kelsey looked around. The crowd had mostly dispersed, and she was slightly dejected to see that her friends were nowhere to be seen.

"Dragged off."

She blinked and looked to see Severus walking over to her. She blinked and politely excused herself; she'd missed what he'd said.

Snape nodded his head towards the path. "Those twats Black and Potter dragged them off. Didn't want to wait, I gather."

Kelsey blinked, hurt obvious in her eyes.

Severus eyed her. "Reckon that's why I'm here."

She blinked and looked back up at him.

"Alisha asked me to tell you..."

"Oh, OH! Okay. Well, that was nice of you," she said as the two turned and began walking the path together. "You really didn't have to wait. It's cold out here. I wouldn't be surprised if they left to get out of the cold."

"I stayed because Alisha asked me. Kind of," he said with a frown before shrugging his shoulders slightly. He glanced at her and nodded at the bandage on her cheekbone. "You feeling any better?"

**;;;;;**

Kelsey touched her fingers to the bandage. "Oh, yes, I'm much better, thank you." She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her black jacket. "But I don't mind saying now, I was really scared. Thought I was going to die, you know?"

Severus nodded slightly. "Right."

Kelsey looked up at the path ahead of them, wondering what on earth could've made James and Sirius so impatient that they'd left her behind. She hadn't been _that_ late, had she? She wondered and wondered, dry leaves crunching under her purple sneakers.

"Well, I'm sure Avery won't be giving you any more trouble," Severus commented, trying to make conversation.

"I certainly hope not," Kelsey replied.

"Alisha was very worried about you."

She looked at him curiously. Anyone would've been blind not to notice how upset Alisha had been, but she thought it odd that he'd brought it up.

"It's not good for her to worry like that."

She paused for a moment before answering. "No, I agree. It's definitely not good." She looked at him. "But then you've been trying to alleviate that, haven't you?"

He started, looking at her. "I... I'm not quite sure what you mean," he said, trying not to sound defensive.

"Oh, don't get me wrong," she said quickly. "I just meant..." She gently tugged on the knitted beret on her head. "It seems she doesn't have many friends in Slytherin. And that makes me sad." She gave him a small smile. "But then I see how happy she is to be your friend, and it makes me feel better."

Severus blinked at her, a little surprised, then shifted his gaze away. "Couldn't the same be said for you?"

"Hmm?" Kelsey asked, tilting her head to one side.

"You don't have many friends in Ravenclaw, do you?"

She thought about that. "No close friends, to be sure. But friends, yes."

"You're lucky."

"How so?" she asked.

"Because..." He looked up at the overcast sky. "You seem so open and carefree. You're the type that makes friends easily."

She blushed a little, looking at her feet. "Really, I-I'm not," she said. "I suppose I seem that way because I'm with friends most of the time. But, left to my own devices, I'm quite anti-social. I hide behind my books and my homework, figuring it'll be less trouble in the end not to make friends. Fewer problems that way."

"Fewer problems, yes." He looked at her. "But completely uneventful, wouldn't you say?"

She laughed softly. "Yes, quite true." She looked at him. "Not meaning to pry or be mean, Severus, but...you seem like the reclusive type. I just hope that you'll continue to be Alisha's friend. She needs someone in her house who's on her side." Severus looked away from her. "I'll always be on her side."

He straightened up. "She's a Slytherin and I'm a Slytherin. It's only right that I support her."

She smiled a little, then looked at him. "But...your fellow house members don't see it that way?"

"Not all of them," he said.

She smiled. "Well, I'm sure you'll get through to them sooner or later."

He gave a very small smile, then quickly let it fall. "...Would you ever regret it? Supporting your friends through everything, even if something they did hurt you?"

She looked at him, wondering if this was a hypothetical question or not. "I'm speaking for myself here, but... To me, my happiness doesn't much matter. I care more about the happiness of my friends. So...no, I would never regret it. If it was right, and they were happy...I would be happy for them. I shouldn't concern them with my pain anyway. It's not important."

"It is to Alisha." He looked at her. "She's your best friend, and she cares deeply for you, that much I know. She cares about your happiness, even if you don't. Much as it pains me to say it, I think even those twats you call your friends care about you as well." He looked away. "So just...try not to get hurt again."

She nodded. "No promises, but I will try my best." She smiled a little. "Thank you, Severus."

"For what?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Just...thank you."

The two looked up as they stepped into the little town of Hogsmeade. All sorts of shops lined the one main road—clothing, books, a joke shop, food of all kinds, a pub called The Three Broomsticks, and many more. There was also a train station—the one that the Hogwarts Express had dropped them off at nearly two months before—, a post office, and, on the outskirts of the village, the infamous Shrieking Shack—famed to be the most haunted building in all of Great Britain.

But seven Hogwarts students there that day knew the truth. It was nothing more than an old shack that had been romanticized by the strange sounds coming from it once a month. But the rest of the students didn't know that, so they often took to daring each other to step closer or to even—Heaven forbid—_touch the front door_. Well, it gave them a good laugh or two anyway.

Kelsey looked around, searching for Alisha or any of the boys, but saw none of them. She exhaled quietly and turned to Severus. "If you'd rather go off on your own, you can," she said. "I can manage by myself."

Severus shook his head. "No, no... I should accompany you until we find them. You were in the infirmary for four days, after all. It's only right." There was a slight hint of, "I'm doing this because I'm obligated to" in his tone, but Kelsey didn't care.

Kelsey put her hands on her hips, looking around again, her streak turning orange as she searched the groups of students passing by again. _Now, if I were a Slytherin and four Marauders, where would I be...?_

Something told her that she might not want to know the answer.

**;;;;;**

The two continued walking around for a bit, wandering into shops to see if they could locate the others, but they had no such luck. Severus was beginning to get a little annoyed, when Lily bounded up to them and grinned like the cat who swallowed the canary. "There you two are!" she said with a smile, taking both of their hands in her own. "Come on!" she said, turning to drag them off.

"Lily! Where are we going? !" Severus asked, wide-eyed.

"You'll see!"

;;

Lily lead them to a little cave near the cliffs right outside of Hogsmeade. The cave was warm and lit, and, upon entering, music could be heard. Both Kelsey and Snape blinked, but before either could question what Lily was on about, Alisha bounded around the corner.

"Ah, you found them! Thanks for staying with her, Severus! Come on, Kelsey!" she said, snatching Kelsey's hand and dragging her around the corner, where she was greeted by a chorus of, "WELCOME BACK, KELSEY!"

Not only were the Marauders there, but so were some girls and boys from Ravenclaw. The cave had been lit up and small tables and chairs set up with snacks and drinks.

Kelsey blinked, totally taken aback. "W-what's all this?"

Sirius walked over and wrapped an arm around Kelsey's shoulders, careful not to squeeze too hard. "While you were in the infirmary, all of us here felt your absence. School just isn't the same without you around. So we're throwing you a party in honor of your good health." He smiled and shook her gently. "So try and keep it good, alright?"

Remus walked over and wrapped his arm around her shoulders from the other side. "It seems James and Sirius planned this whole thing all for you," he stated with a smile.

Alisha, who was standing off to the side a bit, still holding onto her hand, smiled as well. "We didn't even know about it. Were totally in the dark. I felt so bad leaving you behind."

James approached Severus and eyed him. "Did you know about it?" he asked, brows furrowed.

"Lily told me earlier this morning. I was originally going to just show up, but Alisha had me stay and wait for Kelsey, so it worked out either way."

Kelsey looked back at him. He'd known where they were the whole time, and yet he'd lead her around till it was time? She looked at all of them as tears welled in her eyes.

Remus bowed his head to look at her. "You okay?"

"You guys are so amazing!" she said as happy and excited tears spilled down her cheeks.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey could hardly stop the happy tears once they'd started. She still couldn't believe it. She'd expected to find them all in the joke shop or at the Three Broomsticks having some butterbeer, but no. They'd staked out a cave and set up a party for her. She was totally taken aback. (And not just by the fact that they'd brought the butterbeer to her!)

She wondered briefly about why they'd picked a cave, but she thought that maybe that was to prevent any disapproving glances—or any opportunities for someone to curse either her or Alisha...again.

Still, all thought of that was put away, if only for that day. All Kelsey could think about in that moment were her amazing friends—her friends who loved her enough to do all this because they'd missed her in class for a few days. It made all the bullying and the cruel words and the hexes and curses seem...completely and utterly stupid, and the people responsible inconsequential. What did their opinions matter? Did they have friends as awesome as she did? Probably not. So what did they matter?

Alisha watched Kelsey's happy crying with pure joy. She was glad to see her so happy and laughing and getting hyper like she always did when she was around friends. And, of course, she got lots of hugs and arms-around-the-shoulders and such. Kelsey was just the sort of girl that you wanted to hug, if only to make her smile (and/or blush) and maybe even get a little giggle out of her. Luckily, she was a huggy person, so she didn't seem to mind it at all.

Alisha walked over to Severus, who was standing by himself with a cup of butterbeer in his hand. "So you were gonna crash the party?"

He grinned. "Maybe."

Alisha smiled. "Thanks, Severus."

He nodded. "She looks really happy."

"Yeah, she does..." Alisha looked down into her own cup. "It's kinda bittersweet though, considering what tomorrow is."

"What's tomorrow?" Severus asked.

She lowered her voice and leaned in a little closer. "Tomorrow starts the week before the next full moon."

They both looked over at Kelsey, who was leaning against Remus' shoulder, both of them laughing about something with Sirius, James, and Peter. Ever since they'd found out about Remus two years before, they'd all come to dread the week before the full moon. Of course, no one said anything for Remus' sake, especially since they knew it was a more trying week for him than for them.

What Remus worried about most, though, during that week, Alisha could tell, was Kelsey. It was obvious he hated that she (anyone, really) had to see him like that. Maybe because he knew it made her worry, and he didn't want her worrying. Remus would be Remus... He went through a horrible, painful transformation, and he worried about someone else.

Alisha just hoped that neither Remus nor Kelsey was thinking about that right then, and that they were just enjoying the day.

;;

After the butterbeer had been finished off, the group headed down to the town to take a look in the shops before it was time to go back to Hogwarts. The Marauders insisted on going in the joke shop, naturally. They needed to restock on prank supplies, after all. Then it was to the sweets shop so Remus could get more chocolate. (He always seemed to be eating the stuff! And, giving as he was with everything else, chocolate was something he would rarely share.) More butterbeer was needed, so they went to the Three Broomsticks to buy more. Good thing it wasn't alcoholic. Otherwise, they'd have been too drunk to find their way back to Hogwarts.

Night started to fall, and large groups of students starting making their way back to the castle. The group sighed sadly, wondering how the day had gone by so quickly. But they figured they'd better head back so they wouldn't get into trouble.

Kelsey's breath formed in small clouds around her mouth and nose as they walked. It wasn't even that cold! It probably just felt colder because they'd been inside in the warm only a few minutes before. She knew she could make it, though. What was a little cold compared to what she'd been through the past week?

She looked up at the Shrieking Shack in the distance, and a chill ran down her spine. She stopped, eyes locked on the old house on the hill.

Remus stopped and looked at her. "You alright?" he asked.

She exhaled quietly. "It starts again tomorrow, doesn't it?"

He looked down at his feet. "Yeah, it does."

Kelsey looked at him, her blue-green eyes filling with worry as her streak turned a yellow-orange.

Remus gave her a reassuring smile and stepped closer, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get all worked-up about it, okay? It's your first day out after being in the infirmary. Let's just be happy about that."

She looked back at the Shrieking Shack.

"There'll be plenty more full moons for you to worry about," he assured. "...Which doesn't sound like it should make you feel any better—"

"But it does." She smiled at him. "Come on, let's go catch up before we're left behind."

"Yeah, wouldn't want that happening again," he said, shaking his head and following her.

"Oh, don't worry about it," she said. "James and Sirius had good reason."

Remus smiled. "I don't think I'd ever come up with a good reason to leave you behind, Kelsey."

She blushed and turned away, clasping her hands behind her back. "Nor I you, Remus." _Nor I you._

**;;;;;**

Dinner that evening was a loud and cheerful event for all. Students talked to their friends and turned to their neighbors, talking about the day's events or showing them things that they'd gotten while off school grounds. It was a rare occasion and thus enjoyable. Even the professors were in high spirits, seeing as some of them had wandered down to Hogsmeade for a butterbeer at one point or another.

The Gryffindor table was the loudest by far. Sirius was showing a group of third-year girls something he'd gotten from the joke shop, causing them to shriek and giggle. Remus was having a deep but obviously hilarious conversation with James, for every few moments he would buckle and burst out laughing, food forgotten for the time being. Peter, who was not really speaking, laughed at whatever it was James was talking about.

The Hufflepuff table was not quite as noisy as the Gryffindor table, but the students were talking and joking and a few even singing. They'd started a round of the Hogwarts anthem that never seemed to end.

The Ravenclaw table was quieter, with conversation going on all around them. Kelsey had been pulled into no less than twelve different conversations over the course of dinner. Those few other students who had classes with her or were somewhat friends congratulated her on her health and welcomed her back. A few seventh-year boys whom she wasn't familiar with had even wandered over and told her that they were glad she was back, and that they'd be sure no one did anything like that to her again.

Kelsey, once some of the conversation had died down—for the moment, anyway—, looked around at her friends at the other tables. She couldn't help a warm smile from gracing her features as she watched Remus laugh uncontrollably. It was a rare sight and quite beautiful to witness due to the upcoming week.

She glanced behind her towards the Slytherin table. Alisha was seated between Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. Lucius was curiously looking over—trying to be inconspicuous—to see what the two fifth-years were talking about. Alisha was gazing down at a notebook in absolute awe as Severus explained whatever was on the pages in great detail, his hands waving just slightly while he talked. At one point, it looked as though he'd asked her a question, and she looked up blankly before smiling embarrassedly and shook her head, obviously giggling nervously. This caused a slight smile to form on Severus' lips as he chuckled and shook his head, as though it was okay that she didn't understand or didn't know what he was talking about, before he went back to explaining, pointing at a random part of the notebook.

Kelsey grinned and looked back at her food and began eating it, sighing contentedly. It really did feel good to be back in the mix again.

;;

As the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws all ascended the stairs, having parted ways with their Slytherin and Hufflepuff classmates on the first floor, Remus stopped Kelsey on the second landing. Kelsey was only slightly annoyed since she had to climb up to the top floor, but, at the same time, she was excited to have a moment alone with the slightly older boy.

"Hey, Kelsey," he said. "I just... I wanted to tell you again how glad I am that you are feeling better," he said with a smile. "I have all of your notes for your classes on Monday," he said as he pulled a few rolls of parchment out of his robes and handed them to her. He pointed at one. "Oh, and that's actually the assignment for Professor Binn's class. I knew you wouldn't have time to do it, so I did it." He shuffled. "You can go over it and reword if you like. And, just know, I don't make it a habit to help my friends cheat." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "But I'm not the only one who's helping you out."

"Oh?" She blinked, looking up at him.

"I overheard Alisha talking to Severus at the party, and I guess she bribed him to do your Potions assignment. He didn't do the written part, but he brewed the potion that's due on Monday. I'm sure you'll find it on your person eventually since I know he won't hand it to you personally."

Kelsey grinned. She really did have the coolest friends ever, and her cool friends seemed to have some cool friends of their own.

Remus smiled and gently patted her shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay. I mean, you're the glue that keeps us all from killing each other. You're something special," he said before taking a step back and up onto the step just as the staircase shifted and began moving away. "Night," he said, waving before turning and climbing up the floating staircase that would take him to the floor he needed.

Kelsey smiled and waved at his back. "Night."


	7. Chapter 5, Halloween

**As promised, the Halloween chapter! :D This is one of BondSlave's and my all-time FAVORITE chapters. We've re-read this chapter countless times, and it's our favorite to read to family and friends. It's one of the longer chapters of the story, and we hope you enjoy it. ^.^ (Sorry it's a little late for Halloween, though, heh. I'll try and get the Christmas chapters more on-time, I promise.)**

**Oh, and Alisha and I put a couple other **_**Black Butler**_** references in this chapter. But, don't worry, they're not so obscure, heh.**

**Happy reading!**

**-V. Halloween-  
><strong>_**In which the spooks come out to play.**_

It was no secret that there were a number of ghosts wandering the grounds of Hogwarts. The students weren't afraid of them (per se), and would often have conversations with them in the Great Hall or the library or any number of places. Floating among the ranks of the ghosts were such greats as Sir Nicholas (a.k.a. Nearly-Headless Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost), Helena Ravenclaw (a.k.a. The Grey Lady, daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw—the Ravenclaw house ghost, obviously), the Bloody Baron (the Slytherin house ghost), the Fat Friar (the Hufflepuff house ghost), and many others.

Despite the fact that the majority of these ghosts were amiable and weren't usually ones for tricks...there were some magical creatures around Hogwarts that just couldn't help themselves. One such creature was Peeves, the school's resident poltergeist. He was probably the only being who could best the Marauders at pranks, because he wasn't bound by any rules or feared threats of expulsion. Especially at that certain time of year. Yes...Halloween. Peeves always went especially crazy, setting spiders to chase after first-year girls and egging professors whenever he got the chance. There was also talk that he'd messed with some of the potion ingredients in the storeroom, causing several students' concotions to burst into flames.

Usually, Kelsey would get annoyed at Peeves' hijinks and insist that Alisha talk the Bloody Baron about his behavior. (The Bloody Baron was the only one—other than Dumbledore—that Peeves listened to, you see.) But that year, a little over a week before Halloween, she was just in that mood where not even Peeves could really annoy her. No, she wasn't overjoyed about anything. She was just feeling..._blah._ (But her fuse had greatly shortened as well.) Anyone who looked at her streak might've been able to guess. Well...actually, no. Alisha was probably the only one able to decipher the color—actually, _colors_—in the Ravenclaw girl's hair.

She was going down the hall with Alisha when she numbly ducked to avoid another one of Peeves' rotten egg bombs. "Buzz off, you pest," she muttered to the poltergeist.

"Ooh!" Peeves cried mockingly. "Little Eddie's all upset!" he chanted. "Little Eddie's gonna flip her lid!"

"She probably will," Alisha warned. "Why don't you go rearrange Slughorn's files?"

Peeves thought about that for a moment. "Good idea, Spinners!" He cackled maniacally and flew off to the potions classroom.

Alisha looked at her friend. "Are you sure you're alright? You look awful."

Kelsey ran a tired hand through her hair. "I'm fine. Or...at least, I will be by Halloween."

Alisha laughed softly. "Funny."

"What is?" Kelsey asked, finding no humor at all in her current mood.

Alisha grinned. "That yours and Remus' weeks usually come right around the same time."

Kelsey rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha. At least we can understand each other's pain."

Alisha cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Eheh... So to speak," Kelsey corrected nervously.

Alisha laughed a little, and looked up when footsteps approached them. _Oh, great._ It was James and Sirius. Just what Kelsey needed.

"Hey, Ed...wards," James said, ending hesitantly as they looked at Kelsey.

"Whoa!" Sirius exclaimed. "Edwards! Your hair's a rainbow!"

Yes, her streak was currently a myriad of colors. Not flickering, mind you. All the colors were just there in her hair at the same time. Unfortunately, it was not an uncommon occurrence.

"Yep," Kelsey replied in a monotone voice as they all continued walking forward.

"Wait," James said, thinking. "This has happened before, right? ...Like, almost every month."

"Yep," Kelsey said again.

"I've always wondered why..." James continued.

Kelsey shot him a look. "Would you rather it be red? 'Cause I could make that happen. And then I could kick your sorry butt."

"No, thank you," James said, actually afraid of her tone.

"But...why _is_ it a rainbow?" Sirius asked.

Alisha wanted to facepalm. How thick could even _they_ be?

"I mean, if one color means one emotion, what does _all_ of them mean?"

Obviously, very thick.

The tips of Kelsey's ears started to turn red, and the red slowy started to seep down her streak.

Alisha sighed heavily. "Guys! This is most definitely _not_ the time to be getting her angry! She's at her most volatile in this..."

Kelsey shot her a look, as if challenging her on how to properly finish that statement.

"...in this state," Alisha finished. She looked back at Sirius and James. "Anyway, don't make her angry! This is not the time, unless you've got a death wish. Now is the time to be very nice to her and to give her—"

"Chocolate."

They looked up to see Remus holding a chocolate bar out to Kelsey. The amber and blue in Kelsey's hair grew darker and she took the chocolate bar and gave Remus a nod of thank you. He smiled in understanding, then continued on his way.

James and Sirius looked after him, brows furrowed in confusion. Alisha smiled and shook her head. Sirius may have been the player of the group, but it seemed that Remus was the one who really had women figured out. (Or, at the very least, one aspect of them.) James and Sirius must've recognized Remus' higher knowledge, because they turned and jogged off to catch up with him.

Alisha turned back to Kelsey, who was opening up the chocolate bar and looking at it like she'd just discovered the meaning of life. "Noms?" she asked.

Alisha laughed as Kelsey took a bite of the chocolate. She grinned. "He liiiikes you," she sang, poking Kelsey in the shoulder.

Kelsey started. "Hmm?" she asked through a mouthful of chocolate. She swallowed and gave Alisha a look. "He does not." She took another bite. "I mean," she said, chewing, "not like that."

"Mm-mm!" Alisha argued, shaking her head. "He doesn't share his chocolate with _anyone_!" She grinned widely. "He liiiikes you!"

Kelsey blushed, eating more of the chocolate so she wouldn't have to answer her friend's teasing. Of course Remus liked her—they were friends! Naturally, she was sure that Alisha meant a whole different level of "like" than "just friends." So he'd shared chocolate with her—big deal.

That was what she was showing on the outside. On the inside, though...she was secretly incredibly happy.

Alisha smiled. "I'm just glad you'll be feeling better by Halloween. Wouldn't want to miss the party, now would you?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Kelsey said, swallowing another bite. "You've got your costume?"

"Yep! What about you?"

"Naturally," Kelsey said with a smile.

Alisha bounced up and down slightly as they walked. "I'm so excited! Halloween has got to be one of the best times of year!"

They stopped when a first-year Hufflepuff boy came running out of a classroom, being chased by a whole hoard of enchanted paper bats.

"If for no other reason than for that right there," Kelsey said.

The two girls laughed, and headed off down the hall to their next class.

Yes...there was certainly no time of year like Halloween. Especially at Hogwarts.

**;;;;;**

Remus walked out of Potions class, holding a slip of paper and looking relatively shell-shocked. It was lunchtime and while everyone filed passed him, he stumbled along the wall, his appetite forgotten. He leaned against the wall outside of the Great Hall, feeling numb from the brain down.

Kelsey, who had left Potions at the same time but taken a detour to the restroom, paused when she spotted him. She frowned and approached him. "Remus? You okay? You look like you're going to be sick." The concern in her voice was painfully obvious. It was only three days after the full moon, so he may have been a little worse for wear, but he usually looked better.

He looked at her dazedly. "Umm. I don't know," he said handing her the piece of paper.

Kelsey looked over the paper, her own eyes widening in mild shock. "Remedial potions? Remus, you're failing Potions?"

"I don't know what happened!" he said before groaning and rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. "I've been doing all of the work. I don't know how I got behind," he said with a sad expression. "I've never been that good with the subject but I never thought I'd fail!"

"Who's Professor Slughorn having instruct you?"

At that moment, Severus walked by them, pausing just outside the door and glancing between them. "Edwards," he said with a nod before looking to Remus. "I expect you at 7:30. Don't be late. I have better things to do than teach you—" He trailed off as he entered the Great Hall, his voice being drowned out by the loud chatter of the other students.

Kelsey, eyes wide, looked at Remus, who looked rather horrified. "Severus?" she hissed at him.

Remus shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "He's the best one there is! Kelsey, I'm scared," he said truthfully. "Snape hates me! How do I know he's not going to do horrible things to me?"

Kelsey sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was _so_ not something she'd wanted to deal with this week. She put up a hand before gripping Remus's upper arm—which she noted was rather firm. "Look. I doubt Severus would pull anything. He doesn't want to get in trouble, and I'm sure he's getting something out of this too. Whether it be extra pocket money or house points or something. And besides, if he _did_ try anything, I'm sure Sirius, James, and Peter would fight to protect your honor."

Remus groaned down at her. "You make it sound like I'm a damsel in distress."

Kelsey grinned before turning and heading into Great Hall.

;;

Alisha sat with Severus, butterflies fluttering around in her stomach as they ate their lunch. She glanced over at him a few times before clearing her throat, successfully getting his attention. She shifted in her seat slightly to face him a little more.

"So, umm...there's a party this weekend, a costume party…since it's well…ummm." Her cheeks began to burn as her ears turned red. She'd planned out what she was going to say, but she was tripping over her words. Panic began to rise in her chest.

Severus was leaning his head on his hand as he nibbled on his sandwich, looking at her dully.

"It's a costume party…and well, umm, I was wondering if you'd…maybe like to go with me." She blinked and shook her head. "NO! That's not what I meant. No, not with me with me, like…if you'd like to attend the party with me…as well, umm…." She shifted back to face away from him, face burning.

Severus sat up straight, facing his food again. "You mean as your plus one? In other words, you being my ticket into a party I would otherwise not be invited to."

Alisha's ears burned even more.

Severus nibbled on his sandwich a bit more before tossing it down on his plate and grabbing his school bag.

Alisha looked up at him as he stood up and slung the bag over his shoulder.

"Sure," he stated before walking off, leaving Alisha dumbfounded at the Slytherin table.

**;;;;;**

Remus spent the rest of us his evenings leading up to Halloween studying potions with Severus. It was trying for both of them, as Severus really had no interest in teaching the Gryffindor, and as Remus' latest claw-marks (among other things) were keeping him from focusing. Severus had actually resorted to whacking him in the back of the head with a notebook to get him to pay better attention, but even that only worked for so long.

Severus was again asking him what the difference between monkshood and aconite was (there was none), but all Remus knew was that he was tired and frustrated, still wondering how on earth he'd managed to fail potions. The study sessions with Severus were (almost) enough to make him wish that the full moon would come twice that month.

The night before Halloween, around eleven o'clock, Severus finally shooed Remus away, telling him to go get some sleep, grateful that he could now get some rest as well. Remus jumped up from the table and grabbed his things, not even trying to hide how eager he was to leave.

He tiredly shuffled down the hall towards the staircase that would take him to the Gryffindor common room, yawning and running a hand through his hair. He was just glad that the next day was Halloween, and he wouldn't have to worry about these sessions with Severus for the weekend.

He paused in the hallway when he heard a soft voice singing. He shook his head, his bangs falling in his eyes. He told himself that he was hearing things. He continued on. Then he stopped again when the singing became more distinct. He tried to convince himself that it was just a ghost wandering the halls and nothing more. But...there was something familiar about the voice.

Remus turned the corner into the hallway that would take him to the staircases and froze in midstep, looking up.

What he saw—or rather _who_ he saw—was Kelsey hopping and spinning her way up the steps, headed to her own common room, no doubt. It almost looked like she was playing some odd sort of hopscotch up the stairs. The light of the waning moon streamed in the windows, glinting off her midnight blue streak. She sang as she hopped about, her clear, bell-like voice echoing off the walls and back to her. She wasn't really singing anything in particular—just a random melody she'd thought up.

Remus smiled to himself, laughing softly as he watched her. He wondered what she was doing out of bed and wandering the halls so late at night, but then realized that it didn't much matter, did it?

He quietly ascended the stairs, still smiling at her. She was completely oblivious to his presence, spinning happily on as if she really were a carefree ghost of the school. He stopped on a landing as she veered off on the flight of stairs that led to the Ravenclaw common room. Her voice became quieter as she moved away from him, still echoing softly off the walls.

Remus chuckled to himself and shook his head, going up the stairs to his own common room. He was surprised to find James, Sirius, and Peter still awake.

"There you are," James said.

"Finally," Sirius chimed in. "We thought Snape had gone and left you out in the Dark Forest or something."

They looked at him for a few moments, taking in the small smile on his face and the glint of happiness in his eyes.

"You alright, mate?" Peter asked.

"Just fine," Remus replied.

They nodded slowly. "Good then," Sirius said. "You all set for Halloween tomorrow?"

"Naturally." Remus headed towards the boys' dorm room. "I'm going to bed. Night."

"Night," the other three replied hesitantly, unsure as to how to react to his suspiciously cheerful mood.

Remus set his bag on the floor and his robe on the back of his desk chair, then flopped down on his bed, the springs squeaking weakly under him. He exhaled, smiling, not completely sure why he was so happy. He laid there for a few moments, then stood up and got undressed.

He crawled back under the cool sheets, laying on his side and sighing. His gaze drifted toward the moon outside, then down to the scars on his hand in front of him. He sighed and rolled onto his other side, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

He half-wished that he had dreamt all that he'd just seen. But he knew that was silly. Of course he'd seen it. But he'd been the only one. He tugged the sheets tighter around him. He would keep it to himself—a beautiful little memory tucked away in his mind, where he could recall it on the days when he felt so miserable, and he trusted that it would help to make things more bearable.

He closed his eyes tighter, trying to impress the image of that colorful girl dancing around on the steps of the school as if no one was watching more permanently to his mind. He didn't want to forget a single turn of her steps, a single note of her voice, or a single second of her smile.

If he could just remember these things, if only these things...then he knew he could make it. He knew he could gain strength from her, and continue walking forward.

**;;;;;**

Many of the students attended their classes in costume. Even some of the teachers got at least a little festive. Alisha skipped down the corridor, her brown-heeled shoes clapping loudly against the stone floor. In a swirl of red and brown she entered the Potions classroom and claimed a seat beside her oddly uncostumed Ravenclaw friend. With a swirl of her long red coat with the showy black bow, she claimed her seat and gazed blankly over red-rimmed glasses with dangling skulls at her friend.

"Kelsey," she said quite seriously. "Where's your costume?"

Kelsey, who'd been slumped over her desk sat up quickly, looking down-trodden. "I haven't figured out what I'm going to be!"

Alisha frowned. "Wait. I thought you said you had."

"Yeah, I lied."

Silence descended between the two, but was quickly broken by a slight gasp of surprise as Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter filed into the room and gaped at the Slytherin girl.

"Wow, Spinners! Never thought I'd see the day when you were in red!" James said as he took in her appearance.

"Yeah, what the bloody hell are you?" Sirius asked as he tugged on her hair, which she had charmed to lengthen and turn a deep shade of red.

Alisha slapped at the boy's hand and huffed. "I'm a shinigami."

The four boys merely looked at her with absolutely no spark of understanding in their eyes.

Alisha sighed. "Never mind," she mumbled. She'd known no one would know what, let alone who, she was. The costume was really only for her own enjoyment. But that didn't make it any less sad.

"She's Grell Sutcliff, right?"

All of the Marauders turned to look over at Severus, who was dressed as he usually was and sitting at a desk kitty-corner to the girls' own.

"The transvestite shinigami, no?" he asked, looking at her with a blank expression.

Alisha blinked, completely shocked. Kelsey gaped as well.

Alisha nodded. "How'd you..."

"You were raving about it a few months ago, remember? Well, I did some research."

"Wait, wait, wait," James said, holding up his hands and looking at Alisha with an odd look on his face. "So...you're supposed to be a

transvestite shinimahoozit?"

"Shinigami. It is Japanese for God of Death, a.k.a. a Grim Reaper, you nitwit," Severus snapped, causing both Sirius and James to shoot him evil glares.

Remus looked to Alisha and smiled. "So who is the Grell Sutcliff? I mean, what is he from?"

"How'd you know it was a guy?" Kelsey asked. In her experience, most everyone had thought that Grell was a woman upon first hearing about him.

"With a name like that, I assumed that it was a male who wished to be female."

Alisha beamed, so very proud of Remus for being so perceptive. She was also completely and utterly thrilled that Severus had done some research on the subject. "He's from a show called _Kuroshitsuji_, which translates to _Black_ _Butler_. It's a muggle cartoon from Japan that I watch when at home. He's my favorite character."

Conversation quickly ended due to the fact that Professor Slughorn had entered the room and the class was about to begin. Alisha grinned, not minding the odd looks she got as she flashed shark-like teeth. She was happy. Happy that Remus seemed approving of her costume choice and that Severus had actually looked into her obsession. He'd always been polite enough to listen to her prattlings, or at least to pretend to be listening. But the fact that he knew what she was talking about proved that he'd retained something she'd said, and that meant the world to her.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey hardly paid attention at all in class the whole day. Instead, her eyes wandered about the room, looking at the other costumes and trying desperately to get ideas. She sat and mulled over movies and TV shows and— In the middle of her last class of the day, an idea hit her. One that she realized was actually quite obvious. She wondered at how she hadn't thought of it before.

She bounced her right leg impatiently, waiting for class to be dismissed so she could go back to her room and get ready, now that she finally had an idea.

A half-hour later, she jumped up from her seat, grabbed her things, and was the first one out in the hallway. She sped up the many flights of stairs and into the common room. She rushed to her room and threw open her trunk, nearly diving in headfirst as she searched for the clothes she needed and that she knew she'd brought. Once she had them, she went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Halloween costumes became immensely easier to produce when you had a wand. They were even easier when you were a metamorphmagus. For example, all Kelsey had to do was close her eyes and picture herself the way she wanted to look. With a slightly pained look, her skin turned deathly white. Her hair then turned a burnt fiery orange (save for her streak, which she knew no amount of magic she possessed at that time could hide), and she changed her eyes to an emerald green. She then changed into a black lace skirt that hit just above her knees, and put on a blue and purple peacock-feather designed tank top. Over that, she wore a black short-sleeved bodice jacket with ruffles around the neck. On her feet, she tied black combat boots, and, on her head, she donned a large top-hat covered in mismatched patches and a big card that read "10/6". She applied some bright blue and wine-colored eyeshadow and black mascara around her eyes, slipped on a pair of black lace gloves, and her look was complete.

She went and put her school clothes back on her bed, then tucked her wand into her jacket and set off to go find her shinigami friend. She found her chasing some first-years up and down a corridor, wielding a (fake) chainsaw as the Marauders watched.

"I'm going to reap your souuulls!" she cried, causing the first-years to scream. The others weren't sure if they were screaming out of ghoulish glee, or if they were actually afraid of the girl.

Kelsey went to stand by the Marauders, looking at Alisha curiously. "How long's she been at this?" she asked.

Sirius blinked at her. "I'm sorry. Who might you be?"

Kelsey narrowed her eyes at him. "Ha-ha. You're hilarious, Sirius."

"No, really."

James rolled his eyes and smacked Sirius in the back of the head. "Idiot, it's Edwards. Can't you recognize her voice?"

"Well, the hair and the eyes and the skin got me all confused!" Sirius claimed.

Kelsey rolled her eyes.

"So what're you supposed to be?" Sirius asked.

Kelsey gaped at him. "What? You're kidding, right?"

"Unforunately, he never kids about this sort of thing," Remus offered. He smiled at her. "You're the Mad Hatter, right?"

Kelsey smiled widely and tipped her top-hat. "Indeed I am, good sir. My interpretation of him, anyway. Er...her, I guess, since I'm wearing a skirt." She smiled at him. "You're on a roll today with guessing the characters, I must say."

Remus smiled, laughing softly. He looked over at Alisha. "Um...just what exactly is Alisha doing?"

Kelsey put a hand on her hip. "Trying to reap those poor kids' souls. See, that's what a shinigami does. They reap the souls of the people on the 'to-die' list and transport them onto the next life."

"With a chainsaw?" Sirius asked, sounding mildly afraid.

"No, that's just what Grell uses as a death scythe."

"Shouldn't we stop her, then?" Remus asked.

"No, no!" James said quickly, grinning. "She's finally doing something crazy and...acting somewhat hyper. This is the kind of thing she only does around Edwards!" He grinned at the rest of the group. "Let's just...revel in this moment for a bit."

"So this is...normal?" Sirius asked Kelsey, his tone unchanged.

Kelsey sighed. "Yeah. Last year, she tried to reap my mother's soul."

"I must reap the soooouuullls!"

"...I think we should take the chainsaw away from her," Remus said.

"Before the party, definitely," Kelsey agreed. "No one will be safe if she gets some punch in her and still has that in her hand."

James suddenly grinned, as if something about what Kelsey had said was especially amusing.

"What's that look for?" Kelsey asked.

"Oh, nothing," James said with a smile. "Nothing at all."

Kelsey just shook her head and looked at Alisha again. _So another Halloween has begun... I just hope Alisha doesn't _actually_ reap any souls this year. Otherwise, I won't be the only one who's gone mad around here._

**;;;;;**

After classes, all of the students who had not dressed up returned to their dorm rooms with their friends to choose and change into costumes. Hogwarts would become a full-on freak fest—something that the students (or most of them) enjoyed fully. Alisha, now chainsawless, followed Kelsey along the second floor corridor, the staircases having moved and stranded them there till they could find an alternate route to get up to the seventh floor and wait outside of the Gryffindor common room.

"This Halloween is going to be so much fun!" Alisha cheered, clapping her gloved hands. "I can't wait. This is the first party we've been invited to. I'm so pleased that Nearly-Headless Nick said we could come! Such a kind ghost!" Alisha cheered.

Kelsey nodded in agreement. "Doesn't he throw this party every year?"

"Yep. He tries every year to impress the ghost involved in the Headless Hunt, in hopes of eventually being accepted."

"Ah, yes. Poor Nick. He's such an outcast."

"Oh, I know!"

The girls laughed and giggled as they rounded the corner and located the secret passage that would take them to the fifth floor where they could catch the staircase that would take them up to the seventh floor. Getting around Hogwarts looked to be rather difficult from an outsider's point of view.

The Marauders hadn't even made it into their common room before a fight broke out amongst them. Leave it to Sirius and James to come up with an idea that was fully supported by Peter and absolutely _not_ supported by Remus. By the time the girls arrived, the boys were shouting at each other, trying to be heard over each other.

Kelsey ran up and forced herself between Remus and Sirius, who were in each others' faces. James had been off to the side yelling at them both, and Peter stood by with wide eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, HEY!" Kelsey yelled. "What the bloody flapdoodle is going on here? !"

"Sirius is being an insensative ass!" Remus snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Sirius, who lifted his hands in self-defense and shook his head.

"I didn't ask anything unreasonable! It isn't like anyone would get it but us! And, hey, I thought it was an interesting idea!"

"It's _bloody_ ridiculous!"

"HEY!" Kelsey yelled to keep them from breaking out into a yelling match again. When the situation called for it, she could put quite a bit of power behind her voice, not to mention give herself a seemingly larger precense with just a look—enough to get even the Marauders to shut up and listen. She looked at Remus, who instantly fell silent, before turning to look up at Sirius. She crossed her arms. "Okay, so what was your idea?"

"Well, I thought it would be cool if we all dressed up as iconic characters from muggle fairy tales, and I thought Remus here should be..."

"He wanted me to be the Big Bad Wolf." Remus deadpanned, obviously unhappy about the prospect.

Kelsey gaped up at the pureblood boy. "You did what? ! That is a _horrible_ idea!"

Alisha, who had been standing calmly by, waltzed over and wrapped an arm around Sirius' shoulders. "I don't know."

"What? !" Kelsey and Remus asked in shock as they gazed at her.

"I think it's actually a pretty good idea. I think Remus would look adorable dressed-up in well-fitted smoky black pants, a black shirt with a dark gray vest and fluffy wolf ears poking out of his hair, as well as a fluffy wolf tail enchanted onto the back of his pants," she said before shrugging. "Of course, I also could be anime-deprived and really only wanting to see an animal boy or something."

Kelsey facepalmed and shook her head.

;;

Severus sat on the leather sofa going over his notes, tapping his finger against the corner to a beat that was obviously only in his head.

Lucius, accompanied by two of the infamous Black sisters, approached him. "Are you really going to go to this party, Severus?" Lucius asked in an exasperated sigh as he leaned against the arm of the sofa.

"Yes."

"But you'll be around all of those Gryffindors!" the blonde Black sister said in surprise.

"Uh-huh."

"You would spend time with those filthy half-bloods? !"

Severus glanced back at the black-haired, wild-eyed Black sister. "Go soak your head, Bella," he said simply.

Lucius did his best not to chuckle as the girl's face turned bright red with rage. He slipped his hands onto the younger man's shoulders and squeezed in good humor. "Now, now, Bella, you musn't forget that our dear Severus here is a half-blood. Not all half-bloods are filthy and disgusting. Severus has proven that."

Severus rolled his eyes. "I am going because I have been invited, and it gives me an excuse to get out of the dorms for a night," he stated simply as he abruptly stood and strode towards the portrait hole.

"Are you dressing up?" Lucius questioned.

"I don't know," was all the reply he got before the younger man was gone.

**;;;;;**

"This is ridiculous," Remus grumbled.

Kelsey scrunched her mouth up to one side and looked at him apologetically. "Hey...at least it's not as...odd as Alisha's suggestion."

Remus rolled his eyes up towards the wolf ears peeking out from his messy hair and sighed. "The pun is just... It's painful."

"But...well...there's only a few students in the school who would even know it's a pun," Kelsey pointed out.

"Still..." he said. "I get the feeling Alisha's enjoying this more than she should be."

Alisha giggled from her place behing them, looking at Remus' tail with glee.

Kelsey shook her head. "Just ignore her. At any rate, it's just a costume, and it's just for one night." She smiled and rested a hand on his upper arm. "You'll survive."

He scoffed. "Yeah, sure."

Kelsey whacked him on the arm. "Cheer up! Don't be such a fuddy-duddy," she said. She smirked, her changed bright green eyes sparking impishly. "Besides, I bet some of the Gryffindor girls will really like it."

"Oh, come off it—" He cut himself off and shifted his gaze away, blushing a little. He mumbled some nonsense that Kelsey couldn't understand, and she just shrugged and looked ahead as they continued walking.

Alisha, indeed, was enjoying Remus' costume far too much. She _really_ must've been anime-deprived or something. Or maybe she was just enjoying the fact that some of her suggestions had been taken into consideration. (Not all, mind you, but some.) James and Sirius were probably just happy that there hadn't needed to be anymore arguing on the subject. It was settled, it was over, and they all had their costumes. End of story.

Well...at least, until we got to the party and Alisha saw Severus. She put her hands on her hips, looking him up and down. "Just what sort of costume is that?"

He was dressed in long black robes, black shoes, black pants, black dress shirt...sort of like his everyday clothes.

"I'm a Potions master," he stated matter-of-factly.

Kelsey facepalmed. Only Severus...

Alisha gaped at him. "That's it?"

"Yes."

She sighed. "You'll be the only one without a flashy costume!"

"I didn't want to draw attention to myself," he said, as if this explained everything. (And it sort of did.)

But Alisha would not be satisfied. "That's the whole point of Halloween, Severus!"

Severus just blinked at her, clearly through with this "tedious" conversation.

Kelsey shook her head. She'd known that Halloween would be a little mad, as it always was, but it seemed things were getting a little...shakier than usual that year. Kelsey put her hands up and shook her head again. "I'm getting some pumpkin juice." And she shuffled off through the mass of people to find the refreshment table.

If only James had heard her say this statement. Then many some of the night's events—at least, the more embarrassing or worse ones—might have been avoided. _Maybe_.

**;;;;;**

Obscenely loud music echoed around the chamber as students and ghosts alike wafted around the room—some dancing, some eating, some doing other unspeakable things in corners. Sirius, who was loitering near the food table, picked up a piece of chicken and eyed it before turning to look at James, who was bobbing his head in beat with the music.

"Does this look fresh to you?" Sirius asked.

It took a moment for James to realize that he'd said anything at all. He leaned in. "What? !"

"I said—"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" James yelled, pointing to his ear.

Sirius grabbed the other teen's face and leaned in so their noses were nearly touching. "I SAID, DOES THIS LOOK FRESH!"

"WHAT? !"

The taller boy rolled his eyes and waved a hand at the other before taking a bite of the chicken, James going back to his head-bobbing.

Alisha was dancing with a ghost, a blur of red every so often flashing past Severus Snape's line of vision. The Slytherin boy was leaning against a wall, drink in hand. If anyone were to stop and stare long enough, they would (no doubt) have thought that he was not having a good time. But that wouldn't be completely true. Snape was in fact having a rather enjoyable time. He wasn't the only Slytherin there and, so far, he hadn't had to converse with Black or Potter. He looked down at his drink before taking another swig.

He jerked slightly as Alisha was suddenly right in front of him. She was panting slightly, her red bangs plastered to her sweat-slickened face, wide grin adorning her features.

"Dance with me!"

His brow furrowed and he leaned in. "What?"

"DANCE WITH ME!"

"I...I CAN'T, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" he yelled back in hopes of being heard over the loud music—music which caused vibrations against his ribcage.

The Slytherin girl rolled her eyes and grabbed onto his free hand before dragging him out into the middle of the dance floor. He, naturally, got the idea and, though awkward at first, did in fact begin dancing, drink still in hand.

Kelsey wandered over from where she'd been dancing with Remus, who had gotten over his costume embarrassment, and paused at the refreshment table. She was breathless and sweaty and, at some point, she had lost her hat. She grabbed the bone ladle and scooped a large amount of the blood-red punch into a hard plastic cup. She quickly downed it as Remus walked over to her and grabbed a handful of chips, munching on them while still bouncing to the music slighty. Kelsey nearly choked on her drink as she giggled at him.

He leaned in. "HAVING FUN?"

She nodded. "YES!" she replied, having to stand on her tip-toes slightly to reach his ear. She turned and scooped another large ladle-full of punch into her cup.

;;

An hour and several drinks later, Alisha, though slightly out-of-it, noticed that Snape couldn't stop giggling at her. She giggled back as they danced and leaned in. "ARE YOU OKAY?" she asked.

"WHAT? !" he asked before nearly toppling over.

She grabbed at his sleeve and dragged him to a far corner, the corner farthest from the music in order to attempt to communicate. "I SAID, ARE YOU OKAY?"

In response, Severus lost his balance and had to lean his whole body against the wall as he burst out into an uncontrollable fit of giggles, which in turn got Alisha giggling.

"YOU'RE DRUNK!" she accused as she laughed, covering her mouth with her hand slightly.

He giggled back. "I'M ON MY WAY!"

**;;;;;**

Kelsey swayed back and forth to the music, her eyes slightly glazed over and an inexplicably contented smile on her face.

Remus raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if she was alright. He shouted to ask this, but it took two or three tries before she could comprehend what he was asking.

"OHH!" she shouted back. "Don't worry! I'm perfectly—" Hiccup. "—fine, Sirius!"

Remus blinked at her. "I'm Remus!"

"Right, Sirius!" she slurred.

Remus put a hand on each of her shoulders, turning her to face him. "Kelsey! Are you okay? !"

She apparently found this hilarious, because a whole round of giggles starting bubbling up from her throat. She doubled over laughing, putting a free hand over her mouth.

Remus took the cup she was holding from her hand and sniffed at its contents. Then he took a sip, and spun around, searching for James. He spotted him dancing with a Gryffindor girl, and grabbed Kelsey's hand and started making his way over to James.

Kelsey willingly followed, nearly tripping over her feet many times as she marveled at the spooky decorations that adorned the ceiling—as if she'd never seen floating Jack O'Lanterns before.

Remus stopped behind his friend and shouted, "JAMES! WE GOTTA TALK!"

James started and turned around. "WHAT? !" he shouted back.

Remus grabbed James' shirtfront in his hand and pulled him closer. "WE NEED TO TALK!"

James got the message and followed Remus and Kelsey away and towards the door to the room. They ducked out into the hallway, ignoring the various couples trying to hide themselves around corners and down staircases.

"You mind explaining this?" Remus asked, pointing at Kelsey.

James blinked. "What's wrong with her?"

Remus looked at him, then pulled Kelsey forward to stand next to him. He pointed to James and asked her, "Who's this?"

She lolled her head over to look at James, then stumbled forward to get a better look. "Well," she said. "If I had to t-take a guess, I w-would say that it's Remus. In't he?"

Remus facepalmed. "No, I'm Remus," he said. He pointed at James again. "_That's_ James."

She looked back and forth between them for a moment, looking thoroughly confused. She shrugged and stumbled away, dancing dazedly to the music thumping inside.

James groaned. "Oh, fantastic. She's totally wasted."

"No, you think? Was it her rainbow streak that told you that?" Remus replied dryly. "I'm guessing you had something to do with this?"

At that moment, Alisha came out of the room, dragging Severus along behind her. Sirius jogged out after her. Alisha shot James a look. "I believe you have some explaining to do."

"Whoa, what's up with Edwards?" Sirius asked.

"For a start, she's got us all mixed up," James said. "I'm Remus, and Remus is you."

Sirius thought about that for a moment. "So I'm you, James?"

"Never mind that!" Remus snapped.

James sighed. "Okay, fine, yeah. Sirius and I thought we'd get a good laugh seeing some of the Hufflepuffs get sloshed, so...we spiked the punch." He said it like it was nothing—as if it were perfectly normal to put alcohol into fruit punch at a Halloween party _at school_.

Remus sighed heavily. "Naturally..."

"We didn't think Snape or Edwards would drink enough to get so..." James winced, looking at the two giggling like no tomorrow. "...out-of-it."

"'Drink enough'?" Remus repeated. "Kelsey only had, like, two!"

"What?" Alisha put her hands on her hips and looked at James and Sirius. "Just how much alcohol did you idiots put in the punch? !"

Remus thought for a moment as James and Sirius scrambled for an answer to Alisha's question. "Well...no, when you think about it, Kelsey's pretty small. It probably wouldn't take a whole lot of alcohol to get her to this state. The same could apply to Snape, I suppose..." He shook his head furiously. "What am I saying? ! We've gotta get them back to their dorms before—"

"Where'd they go?" Alisha suddenly asked.

The four spun around, searching for their inebriated friends. It was then that they noticed the door that lead back into the party was open once again.

"Bloody hell..." It was all Sirius could get out before they all rushed back into the room.

"Spread out!" James shouted over the music. They did as he said, fanning out through the room to find Kelsey and Severus. Calling their names was no good. Even if the music had been quieter, it was likely they wouldn't have noticed their names being called, especially in the state they were in.

Alisha spotted Kelsey's bright orange hair, and shoved her way towards her. Kelsey was standing with a Hufflepuff girl and a Gryffindor girl, stuttering out something. Just as Alisha got there, she heard Kelsey shout, "No, no, let me finish! Did you guys know—" Hiccup. "—that Remus— You know Remus, right? O-Of course y-you do." She swallowed. "Remus...is a werewolf!"

Alisha's eyes widened and she leapt forward, slapping a hand over Kelsey's mouth. "FOR HALLOWEEN!" she shouted quickly. She laughed nervously. "It's his costume! The Big Bad Wolf—get it?" She laughed again. "How perceptive you are, Kelsey!" She started pulling her away.

"I wasn't done talking!" Kelsey insisted.

"Yes, you are!" Alisha said. "Say goodnight!"

Remus appeared in front of them, Kelsey's hat in his hand. "You got her?" he shouted.

"Yeah!" Alisha yelled back. "It's getting worse! Did you find Severus?"

"Yeah! James and Sirius have got him!"

"Then let's get outta here!"

Kelsey waved to the two girls she'd been talking to. "Take care, ladies! I'll see ya later!" she slurred. She looked at Alisha. "Could I please just g-go talk to them some more? I was j-just getting to the good part of my s-story!"

Alisha looked at Remus with wide eyes and shook her head frantically. "Not a good idea!"

Remus took the hint and took Kelsey's other arm, leading them out of the room and back into the hallway. "What was she doing?" Remus asked Alisha.

"Oh, nothing," she replied, lowering her voice, "just nearly spilling your secret."

Remus stared at her. "Wow. She really _is_ drunk."

James and Sirius were just a little farther down the hall, begrudgingly holding a swaying Severus up on his feet.

"What was he doing when you found him?" Alisha asked, taking Severus' arm and putting it around her shoulders.

"Walking up to people and shouting, 'Ten points from Gryffindor!'" Sirius said, imitating Severus' drunken voice.

"Yeah, that sounds like him," Alisha said. She could see it now—Severus stumbling around and saying something like, _"Oh, that's how many points Gryffindor's got? Well, that many points from them! Take away all the points! Give them negative points!"_

Kelsey rolled her head back and looked at the ceiling. "Since when have the c-ceilings been so...tall?"

"Or...are we just r-really small?" Severus asked. He slipped from Alisha's grip and fell to the floor, staring up at the high ceilings and continuing to wonder about their height.

Kelsey nodded dazedly. "H-He's got a good point," she said to Remus.

Severus lolled his head to the side to look at her, but found himself looking, instead, up her skirt. He tilted his head curiously. "Disney..." he mumbled.

Kelsey's face flushed, and she weakly kicked at Severus. Her foot barely connected with his head and hit with little to no force at all, but Severus still recoiled as if he'd taken a bludger to the head. No one else had heard his muttering, and blinked at Kelsey curiously, wondering why she was kicking (or trying to kick) Severus.

"This is so weird," James said.

"Not enjoying it?" Alisha asked dryly.

He shook his head. "No, it's just... It's too weird. Let's get them out of here."

;;

They made their way back to the Ravenclaw common room first since it was closest, Kelsey and Severus having a slurred debate on methods of counting all the stairs in Hogwarts the whole way.

"What I can't figure out is why her streak is rainbow," Sirius said.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Well, it was rainbow earlier this week, remember?"

"She's drunk," Remus said. "What did you expect it to do?"

"But she wasn't drunk the last time!" Sirius pointed out.

Alisha facepalmed. Sirius just wasn't getting it.

"Oh, speaking of that," Kelsey jumped in, looking at Remus. "Y-You gave me chocolate."

"I did," Remus replied, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"A-And Alisha told me that— OW!" She shifted her gaze to Alisha. "W-Why'd you kick me? !"

Alisha shot her a look that she hoped Kelsey could see through the drunken cloud she was in.

Kelsey sighed and continued staggering along. "You know, I love you guys."

"Oh, here it comes..." James muttered.

"N-No, I really mean it," Kelsey said. "Y-You guys are like my b-brothers. And I l-love you even though you t-tried to set Slumbledore's beard on fire that one time."

"'Slumbledore'?" Sirius laughed, pointing at her. "This isn't weird—it's hilarious!"

Remus rolled his eyes.

"D-Do you guys love me?" Kelsey asked, turning her puppy-dog blue-green eyes (her changed appearance was starting to fade away) on Remus.

Remus cleared his throat, blushing a little. "Of course we do."

"Do you really?" Kelsey slurred.

"Very much," Remus said quickly.

Sirius and James smirked, holding in their laughter. Remus shot them a look, and they looked away, wiping the smiles off their faces.

They stopped at the entrance to the common room. James stepped forward and banged the brass knocker against the wooden door. A voice then spoke, giving them a riddle to answer.

Kelsey looked up at the door, saying a slurred version of the correct answer to the riddle. It seemed that, even drunk, she still retained _some_ of her intelligence.

Alisha shifted Severus' weight a little. (He was nearly passed-out now.) "I'll go take Severus back with me. See you guys tomorrow."

"Night," the three boys replied.

"Bye, Alisha!" Kelsey shouted. "Bye, Severus!"

"Shh!" Sirius hushed.

Kelsey blinked and tilted her head to one side.

"We need to be quiet," Remus told her.

"Ohhh," she said, nodding. She attempted a wink. "I gotcha."

"Merlin's beard..." James breathed.

"I've got her from here," Remus said. "You guys can head on back to the common room."

James smirked. "Oh? You've got it handled?"

Remus blushed and shot James a look. "Shut up, Prongs!"

"What're you worried about?" James asked, gesturing to Kelsey. "She can't even remember her own name right now."

"And whose fault is that?"

Sirius stepped between them. "Come on, mates. Not here."

Remus and James looked at each other for a few moments, then nodded. "Right." James turned and gave a half-wave. "See ya back in the common room."

Remus nodded, and Sirius went off after James. Remus then turned and lead Kelsey in through the door, tugging her down the steps into the common room.

The entire dormitory was deathly quiet, save for the fire cracking in the fireplace, and Remus wondered for a moment if the entire house was out that night. He thought that odd, since the Ravenclaws were usually the ones to stick to their curfews, even on holidays.

Kelsey hummed tunelessly as Remus lead her towards the girls' dormitory. Then she giggled. "I tricked you."

He stopped and blinked at her. "What?" Did she mean about being drunk, or...?

She grinned. "I know you're Remus, not Sirius." Her grin fell, and she lightly rested a hand on his arm. "I'm sure that I'll always know it's you, no matter how much I—" Hiccup. "—drink."

He looked at her for a moment and rested a hand on her shoulder. "You can't let this happen again, alright?"

She nodded. "If you s-say so."

He hesitantly ran a hand over her hair. "If you do, someone might take advantage of you."

She smiled, swaying back and forth. "But I'm w-with you. You'd n-never take a-advantage of me."

He laughed softly, but his smile fell when a few clouds rolled by outside, allowing soft moonlight to stream in through the window. He sighed and looked down. "Come on. You need some rest."

Since there was a charm on the dorms that prevented boys from entering the girls' dorms, all Remus could do was get her to the door and give her a well-meaning shove in the right direction.

She giggled and spun across the room, collapsing onto her bed. "Oh, I'm so dizzy," she said.

Remus laughed softly again, then tossed her hat through the door, the hat landing on her trunk at the foot of her bed. "Goodnight, Kelsey."

"Goodnight, Remus," she mumbled tiredly.

Remus put his hands in his pockets and went back down the steps and out of the Ravenclaw common room, and headed to his own dorm.

_"But I'm with you. You'd never take advantage of me."_

He shook his head and smiled. _What a night... Sure hope Alisha and Snape made it back alright._

**;;;;;**

Alisha and Severus staggered across the first floor, the light of the moon their only guide as they attempted to locate the staircase that would lead them down to the dungeons. Snape was hunched over slightly, rambling nonsense and giggling at random intervals, his arm slung over Alisha's shoulders, while she clung to his middle and attempted to drag him along beside her.

"Did you know that Remus...hehehe...he's— Oops." He gasped as they sort of stumbled down the stairs and into the wall before Alisha could correct their steps. Snape giggled as they pushed off of the wall. "He really _sucks_ at Potions!"

Alisha let out a puff of air as she nearly was toppled over by the boy leaning on her. She was forced to brace herself against the wall and lean there for a moment with Severus awkwardly pressed up against her, his head resting on her shoulder.

"Like...he's really, really bad at them!" he giggled out. "Like...its baaaaaad! I don't even know if I can teach him!"

Alisha wasn't listening. She was too busy trying not to giggle at the giggling boy, as well as attempting to keep her mind from wandering into dangerous waters. "Come on Se-evv... We gotta get back to the 'orm before we're fo'nd out," she whispered not too quietly, her slurr becoming more noticeable now that she was buzzed.

He lifted his head and looked at her. She felt her heart beat double in its effort to send oxygenated blood to her fuzzy brain. They were so close. They were literally pressed up against eachother, their faces mere inches appart. They could hardly see each other but she was all too aware that he was there.

"See-evv'rus?" she asked.

His arm, which was still wrapped around her shoulders was joined by his other arm. "You know what? You, you, you know what?" he asked.

"W-What?" she asked in a quiet, slurred voice, their alcohol-laden breath mingling and warming their faces. She felt him shift his weight slightly, leaving no room between them.

"You have really...really...really... You're not really beautiful, ya know?" he said in an overly-slurred, apologetic tone.

She nodded. "Y-eah...I know."

"Buuut...you have these really...pretty, pretty, and I mean _pretty_ eyes."

Before she could mutter "Thanks," she felt a pair of warm lips pressed against her own. Her eyes widened and her heart began careening around her chest. Her hands lifted and gripped at his back as she closed her eyes and returned the kiss.

A small voice in the back of her head screamed that she was kissing Severus and that it was wrong. Another part of her mind, however, didn't give a damn what the rest of her mind said and she really just wanted it to continue.

Breaths mingled and blind, uncoordinated kisses continued. Accidental nose kisses, chin kisses, and a few opened-mouthed kisses assaulted both teens' senses before they broke appart.

Alisha, out of breath and blushing furiously, not only from her buzzed condition, blinked in the darkness several times before muttering,

"T-Thanks."

;;

Remus entered the portait hole to find James, Peter, and Sirius waiting for him. Peter, who had been feeling ill all day, hadn't attended the party (going to classes that day in his state had worn him out, unfortunately), but had dragged himself out of bed to wait up for them all.

Remus tiredly dragged himself to one of the big, fluffy chairs by the fire and collapsed in it.

Sirius glanced around before looking at him. "So...you didn't?"

"No, of course not!" Remus snapped, shooting him a glare. "She's drunk!"

The pureblood snorted, almost scoffing at the excuse, and grinned. "Perfect oppurtinity, mate."

"No, Padfoot, I won't take advantage of a girl while she's drunk, and I will continue to believe that neither will you!"

James leaned forward. "But...don't you want to...you know...?"

Remus broke down and slammed the heels of his hands to his eyes and sobbed out slightly. "Yeeeessss!" he groaned as he dug his nails into his forehead. "Soooo baaaad!"

James gave the other boy an understanding look while Sirius shook his head. "Then why didn't you? You're a guy! You have needs!"

Remus let his arms fall away and he glared at Sirius. "No. Just... No."

James nodded and smacked Sirius in the side. "Yeah, he's got a point! Don't be such a twat, Padfoot!"

Sirius smirked and shrugged. "Can't fight nature, mates."

;;

Alisha and Severus arrived at the entrance to the Slytherin common room, and proceeded to stand there gazing at the blank wall, well...blankly.

Severus nudged Alisha. "Go on...'sway' the password."

"'Sway'? No, I... Ehmn, I can't remember the password."

"Damn it," Severus groaned as he released Alisha and fell to the floor in a heap. "Woooow...when did you get so tall?"

Alisha looked down at him, shaking her head slightly before slamming her hand against the wall. "Come on, let us in! We're Slytherins, I swear it! We just... I can't remember the password," she said before she continued to bang against the wall and wail to be let in.

Severus remained on the floor at her feet, utterly useless.

After a few minutes, the wall slid open and Alisha fell forward, landing at Lucius Malfoy's feet.

The blonde looked down at the two in confusion before a hint of amusment crossed his features and he crossed his arms. "My, my, did you two have fun?" he asked with a grin. His attention was drawn to Severus, who lay in a heap, flailing his arms up at him.

"Wooooow! Lucy! How'd you...get way down there? !"

The blonde rolled his eyes and leaned down to pull Alisha to her feet. He shoved her forward towards one of the sofas, where she collapsed and broke out in giggles, before he turned and picked up Severus, who continued giggling and calling him Lucy.

"Don't call me that," the blonde snapped as the entrance to the Slytherin common room closed.


	8. Chapter 6, Day Off

**Hey there...been a while... .; I'm terribly sorry that it's taken so long for me to get an update up. *sad face* You've all been very patient, and I'm grateful for that. School and just life in general have been kicking my butt lately, as they have BondSlave's, but we're still working on our writing, of course!**

**So much for getting the Christmas chapters up near Christmas...heh. But it's cool to read Christmas stuff all year 'round, right? :D**

**NemosDadwasNemosMom: Oh wow! *sparkly happy eyes* Thank you so very much! Well, we came up with this after seeing **_**DHp2**_** and having a very sleepless weekend where we lived on pizza, chips and bean dip, and fuji apple Sobe water. And viola, this story was born! haha We're thrilled that you like it so much! Thank you, thank you! That means so much! :D**

**Alright, on with the show~**

**-VI. Day Off-  
><strong>_**In which a handsome stranger strolls into town.**_

Kelsey awoke the next morning to a splitting headache and the urge to throw up the entire contents of her stomach—which she vaguely knew consisted of plenty of candy and lots of fluids. She groaned and sat up, putting her hand to her head. She realized that she was still in her costume and looked down at herself, confused.

"Oh, you're up," Lucinda said. "Are you alright?"

Kelsey looked at her groggily. "What happened?"

"Seems someone at the party last night spiked the punch," she answered. "You...got a little drunk."

Her eyes widened as she stared at her fellow Ravenclaw. "Wh..." She pressed her palms against her face. "Oh no!" She threw her hands down and looked desperately at the other girl. "Please tell me I didn't do anything too awful."

Lucinda thought for a moment. "No, not really. You were stumbling around calling Remus 'Sirius', and you tried to convince a couple of girls that Remus was a werewolf..."

Kelsey's face paled and she looked at her hands in her lap. _Oh no! What did I try to do? !_

Lucinda chuckled. "Honestly, you were so drunk, you thought he was a real wolf."

She gave a half-hearted chuckle, then looked at her again. "How did I get back here?"

"Remus brought you back," Lucinda said. "And you laid on your bed for at least an hour, giggling about how the curtains are blue."

"Oh, brilliant," Kelsey said dryly, pushing herself to her feet.

"You want some coffee or something?"

Kelsey chuckled. "I'm not that desperate." She ran her hands through her hair and sighed. "If anyone needs me...I'll be showering and trying not to throw up."

**;;;;;**

Alisha woke up when a few of her fellow Slytherins ran through the common room, laughing loudly. She groaned and sat up on the couch, rubbing her eyes.

"Finally awake," Lucius commented.

Alisha tried to get her eyes to focus on him. "Wha' happened?" she asked tiredly.

"Oh, you and Severus came stumbling to the door last night, both of you out of your minds and obviously drunk."

"Drunk?" Alisha thought for a moment, and that was all it took for her to recall her memories. She gasped loudly. "Oh my god, I—" She slapped her hands over her mouth.

"What was that?" Lucius asked.

"Nothing," Alisha said, pushing herself up from the couch. Before he could ask anything more of her, she rushed off towards the girls' dorm. On the way up, she ran into Severus.

They stared at each other for a few moments, the memories of the night before swirling through Alisha's frazzled mind.

"You should take a shower," Severus said. "It helps stave off the hangover." And he walked away without another word.

Alisha looked after him curiously. It took all of her willpower not to rush after him and demand to know what he remembered. Did he remember at all? Had he forgotten? Had she dreamt the whole thing? No, she was sure it had happened.

Then a horrifying thought struck her. If she'd only been buzzed and had allowed herself to make out with Severus...what on earth had happened with Kelsey?

She rushed through a shower (trying her best not to throw up), got dressed, and ran down to the Great Hall. She quickly spotted Remus sitting with James, Sirius, and Peter. She ran as fast as she could toward them. They saw her coming, but... Well...

Alisha grabbed Remus' shirtfront and yanked him away from his breakfast. "What happened?" she asked firmly, her voice not quiet, but not at the level of shouting either.

Remus blinked at her. "Uh..."

She shook him. "With Kelsey, idiot! What happened? !" She stared at him. "You didn't..."

Remus blushed and stared at her.

Sirius grinned. "Well now—"

Remus flung his hand back and whacked Sirius in the middle of his chest. "Of course I didn't!"

Alisha raised an eyebrow. "You promise?"

"I swear," he said. "When I left, she was on her bed, laughing about the curtains or something. Nothing happened."

She breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't release him. "Good. That's good. Thank you."

"Uh... Alisha, why were you just shaking Remus like he'd done something horrible?"

They all looked at Kelsey, who had approached a moment before.

Alisha let go of Remus and laughed nervously. "Oh, hi!" she said. "How's your head?"

Kelsey blinked at her. "Feels like it weighs twenty pounds."

"Yeah, sounds about right," Alisha said. She laughed loudly. "I am _so_ out of it!" She started backing away. "I'll, uh... I'll see you guys!" And she shuffled away to the Slytherin table. Now that she knew Kelsey had made it back without incident, she was free to stew over her own problems.

Kelsey watched her friend go, an eyebrow raised curiously, but her head was pouding too much for her to even consider asking questions. With a mumbled, "See you guys", she shuffled off to the Ravenclaw table to try to force down some breakfast.

Remus looked after her, glad that she was looking better than she had last night. Or, more sober, anyway.

"Y'know, I think Edwards had it wrong," Sirius commented.

"What d'ya mean?" James asked through a moutful of eggs.

"When she asked Alisha why she was shaking Moony like he'd done something horrible," Sirius explained. "If he had done anything, it wouldn't have been anything horrible." He grinned. "He would've done something—or some_one_—utterly beauti—"

Remus tackled Sirius from his seat in a flustered fit. "_Shut up, Padfoot!_"

Sirius only laughed loudly in reply, thoroughly amused at his friend's embarassment. But he wasn't through yet. "Oh? So you disagree?"

"Disagree with what?" Remus snapped, grabbing Sirius' shirtfront and shaking him slightly. His face was still bright red as he tried not to think too much about what Sirius had said.

Sirius smirked. "You don't think Edwards is beautiful?"

Remus' glare fell from his face, but the blood did not. In fact, he turned even more red, if that was possible.

Sirius, James, and Peter just blinked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer to Sirius' perfectly rational question.

Remus cleared his throat and let go of Sirius, then got up and sat back in his seat. "I really don't think this is the appropriate time or place to talk about that," he said quietly, his tone doing nothing at all to hide the fact that he was completely and totally flustered.

Sirius and the other Marauders also knew from his tone what his answer was. And it only made them grin at him more.

"You won't even concede to say that she's pretty?" James asked teasingly.

"Or cute?" Peter asked with a grin.

"How 'bout attractive?" Sirius asked.

"Good-looking?" James tried.

"Appealing?" Peter suggested.

"Fetching," Sirius said with a grin.

"Charming," Peter tried.

"Foxy," James said, smirking.

Remus stared down at his breakfast through this banter that was starting to sound more and more like a recital from a thesaurus. "Like I said, not the time or place." _And if one of you says, "sexy," I'll knock you out, _he straightened up a little, still looking down at his plate, as if telepathically daring them to say it. "Besides, I don't feel it's right to talk about Kelsey behind her back."

"Well, then I'll call her over here!" Sirius said in a "I'd be only too happy to do it" tone. He stood as Remus stared at him in horror. "Hey, Edwa—!"

Remus yanked him back down into his seat, shaking him furiously. "Shadduuuuuup!"

The Marauders laughed, but the subject was dropped from that particular morning conversation. Remus soon calmed down and was talking to them all again without any embarrassment or hesitation. But just because the subject had been dropped didn't mean that they all weren't thinking about it. Or, in Sirius' case, thinking about ways to only make Remus' flustered fits worse and, by proxy, that much more enjoyable.

**;;;;;**

Breakfast was oddly awkward between Alisha and Severus. Alisha felt horrible for having made out with Severus and enjoying it so much, and Severus felt out-of-place because Alisha was acting so oddly. He attempted conversation once or twice, but never got it to go anywhere, so he eventually just gave up and continued nibbling on his toast.

;;

Remus, who was sitting by Peter, looked over at the shorter boy and smiled. "How you feeling, Wormtail?" he asked warmly, as if the previous conversation hadn't happened.

The smaller boy looked paler than usual and had dark circles under his eyes, but seemed otherwise whole. "I'm feeling better. Just sad I didn't get to go to the party with you guys."

Remus nodded as he cut into his fried eggs. "Yeah, really was a pity. You did miss some interesting scenes. But don't worry, there's always the next party," he said as he patted Peter on the back.

"Yes!" Sirius said as he thrust his fork, sausage skewered on it and all, towards the small blonde boy seated across from him. "The next party will be even cooler and you will be there!" he said enthusiastically, which caused Peter to smile.

James nudged him. "We _did_ miss you last night. Missed that little awkward dance, chicken-looking thing you do," he said with a laugh. "I tried getting Moony to do it at one point, but his limbs are too long."

Remus blushed and chuckled slightly.

Peter was glad he'd been missed but, from what the others had told him, he was very sad that he'd been sick. He would have given anything to see a drunk Kelsey and Snape. He didn't doubt it would have been absolutely hilarious. "What are we doing today?" he asked. "Since it's Saturday."

James looked thoughtful. "You know, I'm not sure." He looked over his glasses at the smaller boy. "What do _you_ want to do today, Wormtail?" he asked.

Sirius perked up. "Yeah! Today can be all about you! You _did_ miss a good party and we didn't really hang out with you much while you were ill. We can all hang out today and do whatever it is you want!"

Remus nodded, setting his fork down and wrapping an arm around the other's shoulders. "Name it."

;;

Kelsey poked at her breakfast, completely uninterested. Everything looked good and smelled good, but she was sure anything she swallowed would try and climb back up her throat. Which was quite a pity, since her eggs looked delicious.

"You really ought to eat, you know."

Kelsey blinked and looked up at the seventh-year boy talking to her. "Huh?"

He pointed to her plate. "You'll feel better once you've eaten something. Even if it's only toast."

Kelsey blinked. She had seen the boy before, but she couldn't place his name. Which she found rather sad since they were in the same house.

He was tall and lean with a sturdy frame, short black hair, bright blue eyes and a smooth, pale complexion.

"Oh, um, thanks, uh..."

"Ethan," he stated simply.

"Oh! You're a chaser on the Quidditch team!" she said, her own voice ringing in her ears, causing her to wince.

He chuckled and handed her a goblet of water. "Yep," he stated with a smile as he took a bite of his own toast.

**;;;;;**

After breakfast, the Marauders collected Alisha and Kelsey from their tables and pulled them out of the Great Hall and towards the door that lead to the outside.

"This may sound like a frivilous question," Kelsey said, "but what the crumpet are you doing?"

"Bringing you along, clearly," Sirius said, grinning. As with the night before, no one responded to the odd, seemingly unrelated word shoved into Kelsey's question. She did this often and no one questioned it anymore, as they were all used to it.

Alisha rolled her eyes. "Yes, we can see that. But _where_ are we going?"

"To play Quidditch!" Peter said excitedly.

"But we don't play Quidditch," Kelsey pointed out.

"Which is precisely why we're going to teach you," James said.

Alisha and Kelsey looked at each other, eyes wide. "You're serious, aren't you?" Alisha asked.

"James may joke about many things," Remus said, "but he never jokes about Quidditch."

James grinned. "Besides, two on two isn't a real game, now is it?"

;;

So they got some brooms and headed out to a large grassy courtyard near the tower that housed the professors' offices. (It was usually used for the first-years' broom-flying lessons.) Remus and Sirius were carrying the trunk that contained the Quidditch balls, and they set it down when they reached the center of their field. It was decided that, since it was to be a three-on-three match, no bludgers would be used. But there would be seekers, and then two chasers who would also act as keepers.

Now, it wasn't that Alisha and Kelsey didn't know how to fly or didn't know the rules of Quidditch. They just weren't players on the house teams, so they weren't as...confident in their athletic abilities.

"We'll start off easy," James said, picking up two brooms. "These are called _brooms_. We fly around on them."

"Anyone knows that," Alisha snapped as she and Kelsey each took a broom.

"Now then, teams..." James looked around at the group for a moment. "How 'bout...Remus, Alisha, and I versus Peter, Sirius, and Kelsey?"

"Sounds good to me," Sirius agreed, getting the quaffle out of the trunk.

"Then let's break off and decide who the seekers will be," James said.

Alisha and Kelsey shrugged at each other, then followed their respective team members away.

"Alright, Peter," Sirius said. "Which one of us do you think is most qualified to be the seeker?"

Peter looked frantic for a moment at the attention being placed on him, but then stopped and thought. "Well...Kelsey is the smallest. No offense," he added quickly.

Kelsey nodded. She knew she was small; she wasn't offended by his stating of the obvious.

"And I know she can be pretty fast on a broom. Would you mind, Kelsey?"

She smiled. "No, of course not. I'd be happy to!"

"Right then," Sirius said. "Then Peter and I will be the chasers and keepers." He peeked over at the other team. "Who do you suspect they'll pick as their seeker?"

"Hmm..." Kelsey hummed, thinking. "My first guess... I'd say Remus."

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Only because, whenever Alisha and I have attempted to play Quidditch, she can never spot the snitch until after I've got it. The reason James wouldn't be the seeker is obvious as well, since he's a chaser. Even though he could easily make a good seeker, he's a better chaser. They'll play to their strenghts. Like letting Alisha focus on the ball that's as big as a watermelon."

Peter and Sirius nodded in understanding.

The two teams then went over some game plans, strategy and such, then reassumed their positions at the center of the field. James mapped out the field, showing where the goals would be, and where out-of-bounds was. And, with that, the players straddled their brooms and floated up into the air.

Peter took a position under James and Sirius, quaffle in hand. James and Sirius nodded, then Peter threw the quaffle up into the air as hard as he could, starting the game. Peter quickly mounted his broom and joined his teammates in the air.

Kelsey and Remus watched the game from higher above, keeping an extra eye out for the snitch that was flitting somewhere around the field.

Sirius got hold of the quaffle, and he and Peter managed to score a goal in the first five minutes, much to James' chagrin.

Kelsey cheered and clapped her hands, congratulating her teammates.

Remus chuckled. "You seem to be getting competitive already," he commented.

"Oh, believe me," she said, wincing when James intercepted one of Sirius' passes. "I am actually very competitive."

"Is that so?"

She smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Indeed."

"Just be careful you don't fall off your broom," he joked.

She laughed. "With my luck, I would." Something gold flitted across her vision, and she smirked again when she realized that Remus hadn't seen. "But it would seem luck is on my side today."

"What?"

Kelsey turned her broom and headed off after the snitch, calling, "See ya!"

Remus, obviously realizing that she'd spotted the snitch, went after her. The two weaved in and out of their teammates, going after the little winged orb. Meanwhile, the game continued on. More points were scored and more passes intercepted. Threats were yelled across the field, and high-fives and slaps on the back were given all around.

Kelsey never took her eyes off the snitch, ignoring James' attempts to taunt her and make her lose focus. She almost ran into Peter at one point, but he managed to move his broom out of the way in time. Remus easily kept up with her, but the snitch only flitted in and out of his vision. He couldn't focus on it quite as well.

"Still back there, Remus?" Kelsey called.

"Naturally," he replied. "Can't give up without a fight, can I?"

"Wouldn't expect you to!"

Alisha cheered as James flew back to their side of the field, another goal scored. Now their team was leading Peter's by at least thiry points.

"Faster, Edwards!" Sirius called. "Anyone can outfly Remus!"

"You can do it!" Peter chimed in.

Kelsey leaned forward more, pushing her broom to go faster.

Suddenly, the snitch took a dive, headed for the grass below. Kelsey followed, pulling up before she hit the ground and looking down at the snitch below her. She reached a hand out and tried to grab it. It zoomed through her fingers and back up into the air, where Remus was already following it.

This battle went on for over an hour, Kelsey pulling ahead, and then Remus pulling ahead, the other players below still battling it out for the victory.

Finally—_finally_—, the moment of truth came. Kelsey used one little last push of speed, stretched her arm out as far as it would reach, and...

"She got it!" Peter cheered, nearly falling off his broom.

Kelsey slowed her broom and smiled widely at the little golden ball in her hand.

"WE WON!" Sirius shouted. "IN YOUR FACE, JAMES!"

Remus chuckled and shook his head. "That's the last time I underestimate you."

Kelsey smirked. "You better believe it," she said, and they both laughed.

The players landed down on the grass, where James and Sirius started going at each other, one bragging about the victory and the other making excuses for the loss. Either way, it had been a pretty evenly-matched game. It could've gone on much longer with no clear winner, had the snitch not been caught.

"Nice catch, Kelsey!" Peter said, smiling.

She smiled back. "Thanks, Peter. And good call on making me the seeker."

The six of them played a few more rounds, skipping lunch altogether in the process, and Peter's team was the one to come out on top. James complained that it wasn't fair, and that he would've picked Kelsey for his team had he known she could actually play Quidditch. Kelsey then hit James for indirectly insulting Alisha, claiming that he was calling her a bad Quidditch player (when she wasn't half-bad, really...), and Alisha joined in on the abuse. (Any reason to hit James, really...)

The boys had gone to put the Quidditch balls away, and the girls were going to return the brooms to the storage room. They were laughing about James' same sour expression every time Kelsey had caught the snitch, when Kelsey stopped in the hallway and looked up at the sound of a voice.

"Well, that was really quite impressive." It was Ethan, the boy she'd spoken to earlier at breakfast.

Alisha looked at Kelsey curiously, but Kelsey didn't really get a chance to answer her silent question.

Kelsey blushed, her streak turning amber. "Oh, uh... What was, exactly?"

He smiled. "Your seeker skills. It's a wonder you didn't make the house team, really."

She blushed more. "Oh, n-no," she said. "I actually never tried out. I figured I wouldn't have enough time to study or anything. B-Besides, I'm not all that athletic anyway, and I've never played sports before—ever, much less wizard sports, and so... I'm rambling, so I'll just stop now..."

Alisha wanted to grab her and shake her. Didn't she know she turned totally cute when she started rambling like that? ! No guy could resist the rambling!

Ethan chuckled. "Regardless of your excuses, you really do have talent." He smiled. "You should come hang out at our practice sometime. Our current seeker could learn a thing or two from you."

Kelsey just smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay, yeah." She stared. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She gestured to Alisha. "This is my best friend, Alisha. Alisha, this is Ethan. He's a chaser on our house team."

"A pleasure," Ethan said with a cordial smile.

"Likewise, I'm sure," Alisha replied, wondering what on earth was going on here. "I hate to break up this little chat, but we'd best be getting on to dinner." She grabbed Kelsey's arm. "Quidditch kept us from lunch today. So you understand."

"Oh, yes, of course," Ethan said, sounding worried for a moment. "Perhaps I'll see you there, Kelsey."

Kelsey smiled. "Maybe, yes. See you."

"See you," he replied.

Alisha practically dragged Kelsey away, shoving her around the corner. "Who in the bloody hell was that?" she demanded, her voice low so only Kelsey could hear.

Kelsey blushed. "No one! Just a seventh-year on the Quidditch team who just happened to talk to me this morning at breakfast. He'd noticed that I wasn't looking well, and told me to eat so I'd feel better."

Alisha gaped at her.

"What?" Kelsey asked innocently.

Alisha shook her head furiously. "Never mind." She started pulling Kelsey along again. "Let's just get to dinner. Come on."

**;;;;;**

Alisha sat stabbing her baked potato with a knife, hazel eyes narrowed as she gazed down at the vegetable that was gradually starting to resemble mashed potatoes rather than a baked potato.

Severus, who had been cutting up his food, sat frozen, leaning off to one side slightly as he eyed her. His dark gaze traveled from the food she was killing up to her face. He was beginning to seriously worry about her mental health. "Alisha...are you okay?" he asked, a hint of hesitation in his voice.

Alisha's head snapped up and she glared in his direction as she brought the knife down once again to stab at her food.

He would have flinched, had he been any lesser man.

"No, I am not alright!" she snapped.

He blinked as she turned her attention back to her food, which no longer resembled what had orignally been on her plate.

"I am so confused! I don't get what's going on and how things are becoming so messed-up and IT'S MAKING ME MAD!"

Severus leaned forward and snatched the knife from her. "Please don't do anything rash," he stated as he set the knife down on his left side, as far away from her as he could. He looked back at her. "So, what's wrong?"

Alisha looked over at him. "A lot of things." She sighed. She so desperatly wanted to know if he remembered anything from the previous night. She so badly wanted him to that it physically hurt. But she knew, deep down, he didn't and even if he did remember, he obviously didn't want to, since he'd said nothing about it. She sighed again. "It's just... I thought Remus and Kelsey were getting along so well."

He groaned. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about the Marauder, but he was willing to suffer just so Alisha would stop acting like a psycho.

"But now this stupid Ravenclaw Quidditch player's come into the picture and— UGH!"

Severus awkwardly patted her on the shoulder. "Well, umm... I'm sure everything will work out in the end. After all, everything happens for a reason."

;;

Peter sat between Sirius and Remus, James across from them eating dinner, famished like the rest since they'd skipped lunch. Peter swallowed the bite of food in his mouth before glancing back over towards the Ravenclaw table, where Kelsey was talking to some handsome seventh-year. He frowned and looked back at his friends. "Hey, who is that Edwards is talking to?"

James glanced up from his food, and both Sirius and Remus turned to look over their shoulders. James frowned and Sirius' brow furrowed as he turned back and looked at James. "Hey, isn't that that chaser guy from Ravenclaw? The one who got hit in the shoulder by a bludger last match against Slytherin?"

The bespectacled wizard nodded solemnly.

Remus, brow furrowed, turned to look back at his food. He knew it was stupid—stupid to feel so jealous just because Kelsey was talking to another guy. They technically (or otherwise, really) weren't together and thus she could talk to anyone she wanted to, and, even if they were together, he didn't think he was the type to be obsessive and freak out every time a guy looked at her the wrong way. But something deep down in his stomach made him feel nauseated. Like he'd eaten a den of snakes and they were squirming and twisting within his gut. Or like a monster was clawing at his insides, screaming to be let out—screaming to hurt the other boy for talking to her.

"She's just talking to him. It's no big deal. They're in the same house. They're probably friends," Remus stated as he pushed his broccoli around on his plate.

"I don't know," Sirius said as he glanced back over his shoulder. "I've never seen them talking before."

Remus than proceeded to stab his broccoli.

**;;;;;**

Kelsey hummed to herself as she left dinner that night, thumbing through a book that contained a homework assignment that was due Monday.

"Hey, Kelsey, wait up."

She looked up at the sound of her name, and turned to see Remus jogging towards her. "What is it?" She smirked. "Didn't get enough on the Quidditch field?" she asked, playfully teasing him.

He chuckled softly. "No, no, that's not it. I just..." He looked at her.

She blinked at him. "Just...what?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

He inhaled, trying not to choke on his breath. "I was just wondering, um..." But he chickened out. "Have you finished the Potions assignment for Monday?"

"Oh," she said, "yes, as a matter of fact. I finished it the other night. Did you want some help, or...?"

"Oh, no, no," he said, "I was just curious. I mean, I would've offered to help if you'd needed it, but of course you didn't need it, as usual, and..."

She smiled knowingly and apologetically. "Remus. You're failing potions."

He hung his head. "I know..."

She laughed a little and patted him on the shoulder. "You know I'm always here to help, right?"

He raised his head and smiled at her. "Yeah. Thanks, Kelsey."

She nodded, then blushed. "Oh, um..." She stepped a little closer, lowering her voice. "And, um...I just wanted to thank you for getting me back to my dorm last night. I honestly don't know what I would've done without you." She chuckled. "I don't even remember what I did or said, or who I talked to..." She took a breath and started on a mini-rant. "Except I guess I told some girls that you're a werewolf and I don't think they believed me because I was drunk, but I'm really really sorry and—" She cut herself off, realizing that she felt like crying all of a sudden. She realized that she'd been impaired at the time, but how could she have betrayed Remus' trust (and the rest of the Marauders' trust, for that matter) like that?

Remus put his hands on her shoulders. "Kelsey, calm down." He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's okay. Like you said, I'm sure they didn't believe you. And it's not like you meant to do it."

She nodded and gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Remus." She thought for a moment. "Y'know, we should play Quidditch again sometime. That was a lot of fun."

He grinned, letting his hands fall from her shoulders. "Are you just saying that because you beat me into the bloody dirt?"

Kelsey smirked. "Maaaybe!"

They laughed.

Kelsey looked at him. "Remus, I...didn't say anything..._really_ off-the-wall last night...did I?"

Remus thought about that for a moment. Had she? "No, you didn't."

"Good," she said, relieved.

"You headed up to bed already?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "I've got some studying I need to do. ...And I should probably take some asprin and get some more sleep."

"Still feeling out-of-it?"

"A little," she replied. She sighed. "I am _so_ glad tomorrow is Sunday and we don't have classes."

"You're telling me," he chuckled.

"Still feeling under the weather, Kelsey?" Ethan asked as he walked up.

"Oh, just a little," Kelsey replied, slightly surprised at his sudden appearance.

Remus was surprised to find that he actually had to control his expression. Every thought in his head at that moment was screaming at him to glare at the older Quidditch player.

"Who's your friend?" Ethan asked, nodding to Remus.

"Oh, this is—"

"Remus Lupin," Remus cut in, putting his hand out.

Ethan looked mildly surprised, but put his hand out as well, shaking Remus'. "Ethan Parkinson. Nice to meet you."

"You as well," Remus replied.

Kelsey glanced between the two of them, sensing the awkward (and somewhat strange) tension in the air. She cleared her throat. "Well, um...I think I'll just be going now. Night, Remus. See you in the morning. Oh, and thank you again." She turned and started away.

"Wait up," Ethan said. "I'll go with you. I was headed back to the common room anyway." He smiled. "Can't have you wandering around on your own, after all."

Remus was tempted to storm over there and knock Ethan onto the floor, but he just clenched his hands into fists, his nails digging into his palms, and held his ground.

Ethan smiled at Remus. "Don't worry, Lupin. I'll make sure she gets back okay."

Remus gave a tight nod.

"See you," Ethan said, turning.

"See you, Parkinson," Remus replied, then turned and headed off for his own common room, taking a different way than the main staircase.

Sirius, James, and Peter soon caught up with him. "What's wrong, Moony?" Peter asked.

"Nothing," Remus replied, trying to unclench his fists.

Silence fell around them for a moment.

"Is it that Quidditch player that was talking to Edwards?" James asked.

Remus clenched his fists again. "No. I have nothing to say about that. Trust me. I'm fine." His clipped words made it clear that he wasn't fine, but his fellow Marauders didn't really know what to do. And, in Sirius' case, anything they _did_ think about saying would've only made things worse. (Like possibly bringing up their "discussion" from breakfast...)

Remus was usually a pretty easygoing guy—easy to get along with, didn't really have a temper—a nice guy. But now he seemed to be resembling his canine form, and his friends knew that setting him off would've been the worst thing to do when he was like this.

Still...even though they were near-totally positive that Remus had feelings for Kelsey (since he'd told them about it the year before), they had to wonder why he was getting so worked-up. A fellow Ravenclaw was talking to her. ...But it just so happened that that fellow Ravenclaw was an attractive, athletic, older, charming Quidditch player.

Sirius thought for a moment. "Well, look at it this way, mate. He's a seventh-year. He'll be gone soon, right?"

James looked at him in angry shock, and Peter just in shock. "Are you mad?" Peter snapped. "In a year, they could fall in love, and then get married once she's out of school, and—"

James smacked a hand over Peter's mouth as Remus shot them all a look. "Both you idiots, _shut up!_" James hissed.

Remus tugged a chocolate bar from his pocket and unwrapped it, taking a bite and chewing. He mulled over his friends' comments for a moment. "Yeah," he said between chews. "Right."

**;;;;**

Remus had retired early, leaving the other three Marauders sitting around the fire. Peter was sitting on the floor rolling marbles back and forth, while Sirius and James sat in two of the fluffy chairs not really doing anything.

The short blonde boy looked up at the darker-haired boys. "So...if Remus is so upset about this Parkinson guy, why doesn't he just ask Edwards out and get it over with? If they're going out, then she can't go out with Parkinson, right?"

"Usually, that would be the idea," Sirius said somberly, his mood dark due to the trouble with his friend. Sirius may have played himself off as a carefree, playboy jerk who didn't get much if it wasn't wrapped in a skirt, but he really wasn't an idiot. He cared for Remus deeply—he cared for all of his friends, and he hated seeing any of them so obviously upset. "But Remus isn't like me or Prongs. I mean, I would go for it just to get an answer—yes or no. James would be persistent regardless of a negative answer. But Remus...he's never had a girlfriend," he stated simply. "He's never been in love; he's always kept those feelings hidden away. I mean...he's probably just as innocent as Kelsey is. And just as oblivious too."

James nodded in agreement.

"And to top it off, Remus isn't just another hormonal guy like us. His condition complicates things. For one thing, he's afraid of getting close to people. I mean, he didn't even tell _us_ about it! We had to find out on our own!"

"So true," James muttered.

Sirius lowered his voice. "I mean, you see Remus a week before the full moon. Moony starts fighting for control, wearing Remus out before the moon has even risen. He gets moody, aggressive, emotional... It's like his hormones are on maximum overdrive. I mean, you see me and James—we can be totally aggressive twats. Multiply that by ten, and you'd get Remus. He has a lot to deal with."

Peter nodded in understanding. "So, he's scared?"

"Not scared, mate. Terrified."

;;

Remus lay in bed, his tattered, old cotton pajamas hanging loosely on his body. He'd closed the drapes around his bed and let the darkness wrap around him. He could hear the chatter of students in the common room downstairs, but it didn't bother him. He was too weary and mentally exhausted to let it bother him.

_You shouldn't let that _boy_ near her._

'They were just talking.'

_Don't fool yourself, Remus. He was courting her AND CHALLENGING YOU! _

'She isn't interested in him that way.'

_Now you delude yourself? You really are a fool. Do you not desire the girl? Do you not wish to be with her? Don't you want her to be yours?_

'That's just it! She isn't mine! I have no reason to be so overly obsessive! She's free to make her own choices. I want her to be happy.'

_So you want her happiness? Are you sure that is all you want?_

Remus scrunched his eyes closed and hid his face in the crook of his arm as he squirmed against the sheets slightly. He could feel that coiling in his gut and the scratching of his insides again, and it was making him feel panicky.

'Yes,' he thought, and even his inner voice sounded pathetically unsure.

_You are a liar. You don't want her happiness. No, what you want is far more twisted than you are willing to admit. You do want her. You want her so badly it is almost like a physical injury. And aching injury you can't seem to get to heal._

'You're wrong.'

_You want to possess her! You want to rip that boy apart for even looking at her! And every other boy that goes near her. You want to feel her. To hold her down, to possess every last inch of her—_

"NO!" Remus screamed as he sat straight up, clutching at his head. "No...no, I don't. I don't, I don't," he sobbed out between deep breaths as he shook his head. "I don't. I swear, I don't. I don't want that. I want her to be happy, that's all!" he whimpered as he fell back down and rolled onto his side, his hands holding firmly to the sides of his head. "I just want her to be happy, that's all I want. Happy. That's it. Her happiness. That's all."

_You can lie to yourelf all you want...but I know the truth. I know what you really want to do to her_


End file.
